In most cases, reckoning takes place for committed unlawful acts. Persons who break the law are punished. Quite often, people who committed administrative violations, or their lawyers, provide the court with mitigating circumstances. Administrative Code (Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) is the main document that guides the servants of the law, deciding the fate of the guilty people. It has a number of articles regulating which circumstances can be considered mitigating and which are aggravating.
Based on these data, the defendant can reduce or increase the sentence. The Criminal Code also has an article listing the circumstances of the crime affecting the severity of the sentence. No need to mix criminal and administrative responsibility. Although some points regarding mitigating circumstances in these two types of violations coincide, there are quite significant differences between them.
Administrative offenses
Such illegal actions include misconduct that can harm nature, the environment, and the health of others. This does not include theft, robbery and murder, but some actions can be recognized as administrative and criminal violations of the law. For example, plagiarism, some types of theft, environmental damage and so on. What kind of violations such actions are attributed to, and which penalties are prescribed, depends on the scale of the damage caused. So, a person or the whole industrial production can cause such harm to the environment, which will entail a deterioration in health and even death of citizens, or can simply worsen natural landscapes. Of course, the responsibility and preventive measures in these two cases will be different.
The same can be said about drunk driving, about a fought in a public place, about drug trafficking, prostitution and many other misconducts. In addition to the magnitude of the damage, mitigating circumstances can influence the severity of punishment. CAO clearly defines their composition for administrative violations, and the Criminal Code - for criminal. Offenders should be aware that they can not only provide the court or the public with stories that can slander the servants of the law, but must prove with the help of documents or by their actions that mitigating circumstances do indeed occur in their case.
The Code of Administrative Offenses has a complete list of citizens' actions that may entail administrative responsibility. It contains more than 80 points relating to the field of medicine, construction, agricultural activities, transport and traffic, information and communications, business, management, customs, the environment and other areas of our lives.
Administrative responsibility
Depending on the damage caused to individual citizens or society, the type of punishment is determined, which mitigating circumstances can reduce.
The Code of Administrative Offenses (Article 3.2 of Part 1) presents their list, which includes:
- public censure (verbally);
- warning (in writing);
- fine;
- confiscation (the instrument of misconduct is seized, for example, a gun for its storage without appropriate permission);
- deprivation of special right;
- administrative arrest (for example, everyone knows 15 days for a drunken brawl);
- public Works;
- administrative expulsion from the country (applies to persons without Russian citizenship);
- disqualification;
- suspension from work (for the organization - suspension of its activities).
What the law says
Most delinquent offenders try to provide mitigating circumstances to the assessors. In the Code of Administrative Offenses, article 4.2 describes in detail situations and provisions according to which the guilty party can reduce the measure of restraint. In addition, there are other legal documents on the basis of which the court (public or procedural) can make a final decision. So, if the misconduct is committed by a minor citizen, in article 2.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses there is a provision that classifies this fact as a mitigating circumstance. Punishment for the offender who has not reached 18 years of age can be applied in accordance with Federal Law No. 120.
In addition to the Code of Administrative Offenses, extenuating circumstances are indicated in the Tax Code of Art. 112. This document lists the actions and situations that entailed financial crime.
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There are a variety of circumstances mitigating punishment. In the Code of Administrative Offenses you can see the following list:
- remorse of the perpetrator;
- termination of unlawful activity at the will of the offender (before being brought to justice);
- voluntary and absolutely sincere recognition in the commission of antisocial activities, as well as the reporting of useful information regarding the case in question;
- assisting authorities;
- the commission of an act that warned of the grave consequences of the offense;
- the heat of passion;
- difficult family circumstances;
- the age of the offender;
- pregnancy;
- the intruder has small children, elderly parents, and seriously ill family members.
Let us consider these points in more detail.
Repentance
Many people have an acting talent not recognized by society, expressed in the ability to soften their listeners or make them believe in any terrible situations in the story of a storyteller. In the case of administrative responsibility for the misconduct, such individuals can portray a strong anxiety about what happened, even a tear. But such a game to the public does not work. In order for remorse to be qualified as a mitigating circumstance, the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (in the Comments to Article 4.2) clearly regulates the actions of the perpetrator.
This person does not just have to say that he regrets what happened. He is obliged to prove this, for example, by activities that compensate for the damage caused. He can also voluntarily (on his own initiative) deal with the consequences of his negative activities, community service, preventing the commission of such an offense by other persons (meaning conversations with the public). In addition, he may voluntarily inform law enforcement authorities of important information that will help to avoid other violations of the law. This kind of activity is possible in the commission of almost any type of administrative offense.
The heat of passion
In judicial practice, often the guilty try to explain their actions by the fact that at the time of their commission they were in a state of insanity and asked to consider this as extenuating circumstances. In the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, this clause of Article 4.2 is applicable only to mentally healthy people. If the misconduct was committed by a person suffering from dementia (as evidenced by a medical certificate), then Art. 2.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which states that administrative responsibility does not apply to such people. All other offenders, in order to prove the state of affect, must pass an examination of experts. If bailiffs have doubts about the conclusion issued by the experts, they can schedule a second procedure. The state of affect can be observed for a variety of reasons:
- death of a loved one;
- dismissal;
- significant material loss;
- medical diagnosis (for example, a person finds out that he has AIDS);
- message of treason.
A medical examination is a mandatory act.
Family circumstances
When committing some misconduct, a difficult financial situation in the family can also qualify as circumstances mitigating administrative responsibility. The Code of Administrative Offenses does not specify clear criteria for what average monthly income of family members this provision has legal grounds.
Violations for which these reasons for the misconduct may be considered include poaching, prostitution, forgery of documents, concealment of unaccounted income, unauthorized occupation of land, any unlawful actions that could improve the defendant's financial situation if they did not entail serious consequences. If the perpetrators cannot provide the court with certificates of their monthly income (for example, they are unemployed), the evidence of neighbors, acquaintances, and the district police officer is taken into account. Their reports on the situation in this family should be documented (with signatures and stamp).
Administrative responsibility for women
The fair sex also commit unlawful acts for which punishment is provided. The law goes towards women, given their special position, ordained by nature. So, pregnancy is classified as a mitigating circumstance. The Code of Administrative Offenses does not specify the gestational age at which the punishment for misconduct can be reduced or canceled, but an official certificate from the doctor confirming the physiological state of the respondent is required.
Such measures are quite fair, as parents are required to monitor their children.
Administrative responsibility for minors
According to the law, in jurisprudence a person who is under 18 years old is considered a minor (do not confuse with criminal liability that comes from 16 years old). If such a person commits an illegal act, his age is a mitigating circumstance. In the CAO, this is stated in Article 2.3. If a minor has not committed a serious crime, which is regarded as criminal, administrative punishment shall not be applied to him. However, Federal Law No. 120 defines a number of influences that can be applied to adolescents for their illegal actions. Such measures are:
- censure;
- the requirement to publicly repent, apologize;
- warning (formalized);
- compensation for damage (if the teenager is working);
- community service by which the harm is eliminated;
- transfer of a teenager under the supervision of the relevant authorities.
In some cases, for the commission of a child of any illegal action, administrative responsibility rests with his parents or guardians. Penalties may include:
- compensation for damage caused (for example, it is required to pay for the repair of a window broken by a teenager);
- work that removes the harm caused (for example, parents may be required to insert broken glass);
- withdrawal of the instrument of violation (they may confiscate the gun that the child took, although the father has permission to store it);
- a fine is imposed if a teenager, having no rights, gets behind the wheel of a car (article 12.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses indicates that the fine can be from 5,000 to 30,000 rubles. The same applies to the situation if the teenager is driving a bike or scooter.
Mitigating circumstances not specified in the Code of Administrative Offenses
Our life is multifaceted and unpredictable. It is impossible to take into account all situations that happen every day to people, and which can negatively affect their actions. Therefore, the legislation provides for the possibility of extenuating circumstances not noted in the Code of Administrative Offenses. Judicial representatives decide whether to take them into account or not. Such circumstances in each case may be different, but the most common in judicial practice are the following:
- no work experience (for violations in the field of entrepreneurship, finance, accounting);
- good characteristics from the place of study / work;
- the state of health of the offender (often ill);
- elderly parents;
- positive feedback from neighbors about the intruder.
Aggravating and mitigating circumstances in the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation
In what cases the guilty of an administrative offense can reduce the punishment, we examined.
We repeat, a list of such circumstances is given in article 4.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and in a number of other articles that govern the servants of the law. However, situations in which an unlawful act is committed are not only mitigating, but also aggravating. This is regulated in article 4.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. The list of such circumstances is exhaustive and must be taken into account when assigning a preventive measure. That is, the servants of the law do not have the right to decide whether or not to take them into account. If there are aggravating circumstances in the case , this means that the person who committed the violation poses an increased danger to society, therefore, he must be punished more severely.
In what cases increase the measure of influence on the lawbreaker
Everyone can study and mitigating and aggravating circumstances. The Administrative Code provides a clear list when the punishment for the guilty is increased:
- repeated administrative violation identical to the previous one (for example, fined for illegal medical practice, and a person, without a doctor’s diploma, was again engaged in treating patients);
- the violator does not comply with the requirements to terminate illegal actions;
- involvement in the commission of illegal acts of children and adolescents;
- group violations;
- illegal activities during a natural disaster (for example, looting);
- committing an offense while intoxicated, which must be confirmed by an appropriate document.
In practice, it happens that the neighbors describe the defendant from a bad side. Such a characteristic, even certified by seals and signatures, cannot serve as an aggravating circumstance.
If at least one item from the above list is confirmed in the administrative violation case, the judicial representatives must qualify the wrongful acts of the perpetrator as intentional.