70Sentencing principles

70  Sentencing principles  (1) A service tribunal, in determining what action under this Part should be taken in relation to a convicted person, shall have regard to:  (a) the principles of sentencing applied by the civil courts, from time to time; and  (b) the need to maintain discipline in the Defence Force.  (2) In so far as the principles referred to in paragraph (1)(a) require the taking into account of any mitigating or aggravating circumstances, the circumstances to be so taken into account in relation to a convicted person shall include:  (a) the person’s rank, age and maturity;  (b) the person’s physical and mental condition;  (c) the person’s personal history;  (d) the absence or existence in the person’s case of previous convictions for service offences, civil court offences and overseas offences;  (e) if the service offence involves a victim, the person’s relationship with the victim;  (f) the person’s behaviour before, during and after the commission of the service offence; and  (g) any consequential effects of the person’s conviction or proposed punishment.  (3) Where a service tribunal has, in accordance with subsection (1), determined to impose a fine on a convicted person, the tribunal, in fixing the amount of the fine, shall have regard to the following additional factors:  (a) the means of the person; and  (b) the effect of the fine on the person’s ability to meet any reparation orders that the tribunal may wish to make.  (4) For the purposes of subsection (1) the principles referred to in paragraph (a) of that subsection shall be deemed to include:  (a) the principle that the period (if any) that a convicted person has spent in custody before action is taken under this Part by a service tribunal in relation to the person should be taken into account by the service tribunal in determining the length of the period of any punishment of imprisonment or detention that it imposes on the person; and  (b) the principle that, where the offence of which the convicted person is convicted was an offence against section 11.1 of the Criminal Code and the attempt that constitutes the offence was voluntarily abandoned, the fact and the circumstances of that abandonment should be taken into account in mitigation of any punishment to be imposed in respect of the offence.  (5) In the application of paragraph (2)(d) to a convicted person who is not a detainee, a conviction of the person by a summary authority that resulted in the imposition of a custodial punishment on the person shall be disregarded.