'Mitigating factors - national proceedings' in document 'Poland - Criminal Code'

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RELEVANT SECTIONS OF THE IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION

GENERAL PART

Chapter II
Forms of Commission of an Offence

Article 21. § 1. Circumstances pertaining to an individual, excluding or mitigating, or aggravating
his criminal liability shall be taken into account only with regard to the person they pertain to.

§ 2. If an individual circumstance regarding the perpetrator, even if it is conducive only to
aggravation of penalty, constitutes a feature of a prohibited act, the person co-operating shall be held
liable under criminal law, for this prohibited act, when he knew about this circumstance, even though it did not pertain to himself.

GENERAL PART

Chapter II
Forms of Commission of an Offence

Article 21.

§ 3. With regard to a person co-operating to whom the circumstance referred to under § 2 does
not apply, the court may apply extraordinary mitigation of punishment.

GENERAL PART

Chapter II
Forms of Commission of an Offence

Article 22.

§ 2. When the commission of a prohibited act was not attempted, the court may apply
extraordinary mitigation of punishment or even renounce the imposition of the penalty.

Article 23. § 1. A person co-operating in the perpetration of an prohibited act, who voluntarily
prevented its perpetration shall not be liable for penalty.

§ 2. The court may apply extraordinary mitigation of punishment with regard to a person co-
operating in perpetration, who voluntarily tried to prevent the perpetration thereof.

GENERAL PART

Chapter IV. Penalties

Article 38. § 1. If law provides for mitigation or an extraordinary enhancement of the statutory
maximum penalty, in the case of the alternative prescription of penalties listed in Article 32 subsection 1 through 3, the mitigation or enhancement shall relate to each of these penalties.

§ 2. The extraordinarily enhanced penalty may not exceed 540 times the daily rates of fine, 18
months of restriction of liberty or 15 years of deprivation of liberty.

§ 3. If law provides for mitigation of the maximum statutory penalty, the penalty imposed for an
offence carrying the penalty of deprivation of liberty for life may not exceed 25 years, and for an offence carrying the penalty of deprivation of liberty for 25 years may not exceed 15 years.

GENERAL PART

Chapter VI. Principles of the imposition of penalty and penal means

Article 57. § 1. In the event of the concurrence of several independent grounds for the
extraordinary mitigation or enhancement of a penalty, the court may mitigate or enhance the penalty only once, considering jointly the concurrent grounds for mitigation or enhancement.

§ 2. In the event of the concurrence of the grounds for extraordinary mitigation and enhancement,
the court may adopt an extraordinary mitigation or enhancement of the penalty.

GENERAL PART

Chapter VI. Principles of the imposition of penalty and penal means

Article 60. §1. The court may apply an extraordinary mitigation of the penalty in the cases
specified by law, as well as with respect to a juvenile if this is justified by objectives described in Article
54 § 1.

§ 2. The court may also apply an extraordinary mitigation of the penalty in particularly justified
cases when even the lowest penalty stipulated for the offence in question would be incommensurate, and particularly :

1) if the injured person and the perpetrator have been reconciled, the damage incurred has
been repaired, or the injured person and the perpetrator have agreed as to the manner of
reparation for the damage,
2) taking into consideration the attitude of the perpetrator, particularly if he attempted to
repair the damage or prevent the damage from occurring,
3) if a perpetrator of an unintentional offence or someone close to him has suffered a major
detriment in connection with the offence committed.

§ 3. The court shall be applied an extraordinary mitigation of the penalty or may even
conditionally suspend the execution of the penalty, with respect to a perpetrator who, co-operating with
others in the commission of an offence, reveals information pertaining to the persons involved therein or essential circumstances thereof, to the agency responsible for its prosecution.

§ 4. Upon a motion from the state prosecutor, the court may apply an extraordinary mitigation of
the penalty or even conditionally suspend the execution of the penalty with respect to a perpetrator, who, irrespective of any explanation provided in his case, revealed and presented to the agency responsible for prosecution, essential circumstances, not previously known to that agency, of an offence subject to a penalty exceeding 5 years deprivation of liberty.

§ 5. In the cases referred to in § 3 and 4, the court, in imposing the penalty of deprivation of
liberty for up to 5 years, may conditionally suspend the execution of the penalty for a probation period of up to 10 years, if it recognises that, in spite of not serving the penalty, the perpetrator would not commit the offence again ; the provisions of Articles 71 through 76 shall be applied accordingly.

§ 6. The extraordinary mitigation of a penalty shall consist in the imposition of a penalty below
the lower statutory level, or the imposition of a penalty of lesser severity, in accordance with the following principles :

1) if the act in question constitutes a crime, the court shall impose a penalty of not less
than one-third of the lower statutory level ;
2) if the act in question constitutes a misdemeanour, and the lower statutory level of the
penalty is not less than one year's deprivation of liberty, the court shall impose either a fine, the penalty of restriction of liberty or deprivation of liberty ;
3) if the act in question constitutes a misdemeanour, and the lower statutory level of penalty
is less than one year's deprivation of liberty, the court shall impose either a fine or the
penalty of restriction of liberty.

§ 7. If the act in question is subject, alternatively, to the penalties specified in Article 32 sections
1 through 3, the extraordinary mitigation of a penalty shall consist in renouncing the imposition of the
penalty, and the imposition of a penal measure as specified in Article 39 sections 2 through 8 ; the
provision of Article 61 § 2 shall not be applied.

RELEVANT ROME STATUTE PROVISIONS

Article 76
Sentencing
1. In the event of a conviction, the Trial Chamber shall consider the appropriate sentence to be imposed and shall take into account the evidence presented and submissions made during the trial that are relevant to the sentence.
2. Except where article 65 applies and before the completion of the trial, the Trial Chamber may on its own motion and shall, at the request of the Prosecutor or the accused, hold a further hearing to hear any additional evidence or submissions relevant to the sentence, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
3. Where paragraph 2 applies, any representations under article 75 shall be heard during the further hearing referred to in paragraph 2 and, if necessary, during any additional hearing.
4. The sentence shall be pronounced in public and, wherever possible, in the presence of the accused.

Article 78
Determination of the sentence
1. In determining the sentence, the Court shall, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, take into account such factors as the gravity of the crime and the individual circumstances of the convicted person.
2. In imposing a sentence of imprisonment, the Court shall deduct the time, if any, previously spent in detention in accordance with an order of the Court. The Court may deduct any time otherwise spent in detention in connection with conduct underlying the crime.
3. When a person has been convicted of more than one crime, the Court shall pronounce a sentence for each crime and a joint sentence specifying the total period of imprisonment. This period shall be no less than the highest individual sentence pronounced and shall not exceed 30 years imprisonment or a sentence of life imprisonment in conformity with article 77, paragraph 1 (b).