Moral culpability is not binary; a sentencing judge cannot minimise the mitigating effect of a deprived childhood merely because counsel submitted the offender retained a 'moral compass'. The utilitarian value of a guilty plea entered during the COVID-19 pandemic is heightened and must have a perceptible impact on sentence. Where multiple charges arise from a single episode of offending, care must be taken that cumulation does not produce a disproportionate total sentence.
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