Extenuating circumstances – a collection of acts and situations that may cause leniency of the court. Conventionally, these circumstances can be divided into two large groups: personal-psychological nature and external circumstances.
The first group includes the circumstances characterizing the moral character of the accused and his mental condition. The court can reduce the sentence if:
- accused first committed a crime (socially dangerous nature of his acts is in the nature of exceptions, not systematic);
- the defendant committed the crime in a state of pregnancy;
- the defendant has committed wrongful acts out of compassion for the victim (such as caring for hopeless sick man disables him from life support at his personal request of the patient);
- the defendant pled guilty, repented and actively helping the investigation;
- the defendant has provided medical and other assistance to the victim immediately after the crime;
- the defendant agreed to carry out a number of actions aimed at compensation of harm to the victim (voluntary compensation for material and moral damages).
Extenuating circumstances of external nature, is able to mitigate the sentence:
- young children, the disabled, the elderly critically ill relatives who are dependent on the accused;
- difficult life circumstances (the presence of the latter and the extent of their influence, the court establishes in an individual order in each case);
- physical or mental coercion of a defendant to commit a crime by third parties (compulsory condition in this case is the presence of a material, service or other dependence, as well as other mechanisms of mental pressure);
- exceeding the limits of necessary defense (the item are the actions of the accused to protect himself personally as and others).