Distributing stern notices brings penitence (12)

I believe the answer is:

contriteness

'penitence' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'distributing stern notices' is the wordplay.
'distributing' is an anagram indicator.
'stern'+'notices'='sternnotices'
'sternnotices' is an anagram of 'CONTRITENESS'.

'brings' is the link.

(Another definition for contriteness that I've seen is " penitence".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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