Neal, Luke D. (2016) An analysis of the courts' assessment of problem gambling in sentencing. Criminal Law Journal, 40 (2). pp. 74-91.

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Abstract

Australian courts have consistently stated that problem gambling will generally not reduce the severity of the punishment. This article examines the cogency of the reasons given by the Australian courts of appeal for assessing problem gambling in accordance with this general sentencing principle. It is suggested that the reasons should be more comprehensively based on the underlying gambling condition. It is further suggested that the basis for the courts' reasons are uncertain, based on an unrealistic conception of the voluntariness of the offender's choice to offend and, in application, lack coherence with the treatment of the analogous mitigating factor: the offender's impaired mental functioning. This article proposes reform in the assessment of the problem gambling mitigating factor.

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