› Effect of Childhood Deprivation and Disadvantage
Criminal Law
› Sentence
› Sentencing Process
› Instinctive Synthesis
› Obligation to Address [name withheld] Principle in Sentencing Remarks
Quick Take
1A sentencing judge gives 'full weight' to an offender's childhood deprivation or disadvantage within the meaning of [name withheld] v The Queen by taking those effects into account as part of the instinctive synthesis; 'full weight' refers to the effects being considered notwithstanding the passage of time, not to those effects necessarily operating as a mitigating factor, and the weight may point in differing directions across sentencing purposes.
2A sentencing judge is not required to refer expressly to [name withheld] or to the offender's moral culpability in terms where the sentencing remarks, read as a whole, demonstrate that the background of deprivation and disadvantage was considered; the level of explicit analysis required depends on the evidence, the submissions made, and the nature of the connection between the background and the offending.
3In drug trafficking cases involving premeditation and planning, the absence of expert evidence establishing a causative link between childhood deprivation and the offending may mean there is no demonstrated basis for a specific reduction in moral culpability, though the principle still requires the background to be weighed in the instinctive synthesis.
Case Details
Citation[2026] SASCA 12
CourtSASCA
JurisdictionSouth Australia
Unlock so much more with Barrister AI
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 2 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 2 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.
