A wholly suspended term of imprisonment for distributing child exploitation material (with consequent mandatory recording of conviction) is within the range of a proper exercise of sentencing discretion even where the offending is at the lower end and there are significant mitigating factors including no criminal history, early guilty plea, cooperation, mental illness, and rehabilitation. The case illustrates the weight that general deterrence and denunciation carry in child exploitation material offences, particularly where distribution is involved. The question of whether fines without conviction were the appropriate disposition was left as a matter on which reasonable minds could differ.
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