EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES

This article appears in Volume V10, Page 86 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: EUD-FAT

EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES . This expression is used in law with reference to crimes, to describe cases in which, though an offence has been committed without legal

justification

JUSTIFICATION

or excuse, its gravity, from the point of view of

punishment

PUNISHMENT (from Lat. punire, to punish, from poena, punishment, Gr. 7rocvil)

or moral opprobrium, is mitigated or reduced by reason of the facts leading up to or attending the commission of the offence. Ac-cording to English

procedure

PROCEDURE (Fr. procedure, from Lat. procedere, to go for-ward)

, the jury has no power to determine the

punishment

PUNISHMENT (from Lat. punire, to punish, from poena, punishment, Gr. 7rocvil)

to be awarded for an offence. The sentence, with certain exceptions in

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

cases, is within the sole discretion of the judge, subject to the statutory prescriptions as to the kind and maximum of punishment. It is common practice for juries to add to their verdict, guilty or not guilty, a rider recommending the accused to mercy on the ground of grave provocation received, or other circumstances which in their view should mitigate the penalty. This form of rider is often added on a verdict of guilty of wilful murder, a crime as to which the judge has no discretion as to punishment, but the recommendation is sent to the

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Office for consideration in advising as to exercise of the

prerogative

PREROGATIVE

of mercy. Quite independently of any recommendation by the jury, the judge is entitled to take into account matters proved during the trial, or laid before him after verdict, as a guide to him in determining the quantum of punishment.
Under the French law (Code d'inslruction criminelle, art. 345), it is the sole right and the duty of a jury in a criminal case to pronounce whether or not the commission of the offence was attended by extenuating circumstances (circonstances attenuantes). They are not bound to say anything about the matter, but the whole or the

majority

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

may qualify the verdict by finding extenuation, and if they do, the

powers

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

of the court to impose the maximum punishment are taken away and the sentence to be pronounced is reduced in accordance with the scale laid down in art. 463 of the Code penal. The most important result of this

rule

RULE

is to enable a jury to prevent the infliction of

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

punishment for murder. In cases of what is termed " crime passionel," French juries, when they do not acquit, almost invariably find extenuation; and a like verdict has become common even in the case of cold-blooded and sordid murders, owing to objections to capital punishment.

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