Mitigation

Mitigation Defined

Mitigation is that which tends to soften, temper, or make less harsh or severe. Mitigating circumstances surrounding a criminal offense are those circumstances that tend to lessen the apparent badness of the particular crime in question or the apparent badness of the particular defendant.

Mitigating circumstances are not limited by the law; they may be unlimited in number, as long as they are based upon the evidence introduced by either the prosecution or the defense at trial or sentencing.

The existence of any mitigating circumstances does not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A mitigating circumstance exists if there is any evidence supporting it introduced by either the prosecution or the defense at either the guilt-innocence or sentencing stage of the trial, which is uncontradicted or which outweighs any contradictory evidence.

Mercy, sympathy and compassion are appropriate mitigation subjects for consideration by a sentencing jury.

Mitigating factors are circumstances that do not constitute a defense, legal excuse or justification for the crime, but which decrease its guilt or enormity. A mitigating factor is one that can be considered as extenuating or reducing the degree or moral culpability of the defendant, and tends to support imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment in cases where the defendant could be sentenced to death.

Examples of mitigating circumstances:

· The defendant's troubled childhood.

· The defendant's good behavior in jail after arrest.

· Sympathy, mercy and compassion.

· The defendant's disadvantaged background.

· The defendant's emotional and mental problems.

*ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION*