Totality comes into play when one of two situations arises during a sentencing exercise: Where someone is being sentenced for multiple offences and where an offender is already serving an existing sentence.
The principle dictates that the total sentence passed should reflect the whole of the offending behaviour and factors personal to the offender as a whole. There is no inflexible rule as to how such sentences should be structured but the overriding principle is that the overall sentence must be just and proportionate. Guidance comes in the form of the Sentencing Council’s Overarching Guideline on Totality. The guideline has been in place since June 2012 with a revised version being published in July 2023 following a consultation.
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