The Bugmy principles regarding profound childhood deprivation must be given separate and independent consideration in sentencing, and cannot be subsumed within a Verdins mental impairment analysis even where the deprived background is the primary antecedent to the mental impairment. A sentencing judge who acknowledges an offender's deprived background but confines its consideration to the Verdins framework commits an error of principle that vitiates the sentence. The ongoing effects of childhood deprivation also diminish the relevance of an offender's criminal history as an indicator of moral culpability for the present offending.
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