A sentencing judge who fails to address the Worboyes utilitarian benefit of guilty pleas entered during the COVID-19 pandemic backlog, or fails to distinctly address the relevance to sentence of the more burdensome nature of custody resulting from injuries sustained during arrest, commits sentencing error. However, such errors will not result in resentencing where the sentence is otherwise moderate and within range given the seriousness of the offending and the offender's criminal history. A judge's acknowledgment that Verdins principles are 'in play' and that moral culpability is 'reduced somewhat' is sufficient to demonstrate that the weight of general and specific deterrence has been moderated.
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