Where a sentencing judge has already taken an offender's deprived background and mental illness into account in mitigating the overall sentence, it is not appropriate to have regard to those same features a second time to reduce the non-parole period by finding special circumstances. A finding of special circumstances requires more than a 'pious hope' that extended parole will promote rehabilitation; there must be some evidence that extended parole could actually assist, and an offender's history of repeated failures on parole is relevant to that assessment.
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