In sentencing offenders involved in controlled police operations, the assessment of diminished culpability arising from police involvement is part of the instinctive synthesis and cannot be expressed as a proportion or percentage. There is no dichotomy between coercive and non-coercive police conduct; rather, there is a spectrum along which the impact of police involvement on culpability is to be assessed. Coercion or pressure is an additional factor but is not required for the principles of reduced culpability to apply. Where undiscounted indicative sentences for individual offences within an aggregate sentence fall outside the range of reasonable sentences, and the notional accumulation is unreasonable given the inter-relationship of offences, the aggregate sentence will be manifestly excessive.
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