The principle of parity is an aspect of equal justice. Equal justice requires that like offences be treated alike, but also that relevant differences between offenders be capable of being treated as justifying different outcomes. No justifiable grievance can be said to arise where it was reasonably open to the sentencing judge to differentiate between co-offenders in the way which he or she did.
A previously unrecognised intellectual disability discovered during proceedings, and the status of a co-offender as a youthful first offender, can each justify a sentencing judge imposing a significantly lesser sentence on a co-offender whose offending conduct was objectively more serious. An offender who commits offences while on a community correction order cannot claim a justifiable sense of grievance from the fact that a co-offender received a combination sentence including a community correction order.
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