The Supreme Court has elaborated on various factors, such as cultural deprivation, that can be taken into account at sentencing, (Berkland (2022)). Individualised justice requires a careful evaluation of the circumstances of the offending and of the offender. Punishment is premised on offender agency. An offender’s background may affect the extent of that agency. The court considered Australian and Canadian approaches. There are practical and conceptual challenges with connecting a community’s traumatic but distant past with individual offending. The court preferred the standard of ‘causative contribution’ rather than requiring a ‘proximate’ cause in each case. Although it is a lower standard, it must be based on explanatory facts not ethnic assumptions. The court provides direction in the drafting of cultural reports under section 27 of the Sentencing Act 2002.