The [name withheld] principles requiring 'full weight' to be given to an offender's deprived background apply to any offender who has experienced very significant childhood deprivation of a kind and degree that leaves its mark throughout life, impairing capacity to mature, learn from experience, and reform — not only to Aboriginal offenders or those suffering alcohol addiction and mental illness. A sentencing judge who treats the mitigatory effect of deprivation as diminished by the offender's age commits sentencing error. However, the 'full weight' of deprivation as a mitigatory factor may be outweighed by other sentencing considerations such as community protection and deterrence.
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