"I've always taken the easiest road out, which has been drugs, and that's why I always seem to come back to jail," the 31-year-old told Wollongong District Court judge Andrew Haesler on Tuesday, detailing a plan for his future that involved regular rehabilitation.

"I've never had a plan. But for the first time in my life I am clean, I am off drugs at the moment. And when I get in the community, I want to progress with living in the community. I want to learn to live in the community."

Crawley faced sentencing on Tuesday over a spate of local crimes and a July 2020 incident at Long Bay Prison, where he threw a milk carton containing a concealed shiv into a neighbouring exercise yard, to be collected by a fellow inmate who then repeatedly stabbed another prisoner in the face.

Crawley's earlier victims included a lawyer whose Toyota RA4 went missing from his Corrimal home on March 31 last year, with $3000 worth of property inside. Investigators found Crawley's fingerprints on the steering wheel after the car was recovered at Avondale the next day with every panel damaged and the front bumper screwed on. There was a different number plate wired to the front and the interior reeked of cigarettes, with McDonald's wrappers strewn throughout.

On March 25 he swiped the keys to an Audi S5 from a home in Cordeaux Heights while a family slept, also pinching a man's work duffle bag and a girl's school bag. The car was found in Dapto two weeks later with different wheels.

On April 10 police discovered Crawley and a co-offender in the roof cavity of an unoccupied home at Wollongong. The pair threw objects including a motorbike muffler at police and were involved in a short wrestle with officers before they were arrested 45 minutes later.

In all Crawley pleaded guilty to seven offences, including dishonestly obtaining property and possessing an unauthorised pistol (a gel capsule pistol).

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Judge Haesler considered a psychologist's report noting Crawley's dysfunctional childhood, which was marked by trauma and "blighted by his parents' drug use, violence and crime".

"Joshua Crawley had none of the advantages children in our community have a right to expect. He grew up in juvenile detention. He matured as an adult in jail ... continued punishment has not deterred him from offending against the community. As he grows older he may learn. He may learn enough to know the life he has led is no life at all," the judge said.

The judge noted Crawley's crimes had harmed many in the community and said he was unconvinced that Crawley was a good candidate for rehabilitation. But he couldn't be jailed for any longer than his latest crimes demanded, the judge concluded.

"The [report] indicates that at long last Crawley is showing some insight into his offending and its impact on individuals and the community. Unlike some leaders in our community, he is capable of saying 'sorry'."

Crawley was sentenced to a combined three years, three months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years. With time already served, he will become eligible for parole on March 29, 2022.