Administrative offenses can be detected by the traffic police or other government officials. Different punishments are imposed for them, represented by fines, forced and compulsory labor, and administrative arrest is often applied for up to 15 days. If a citizen violates traffic rules, then deprivation of rights may be used. Serious punishment is imposed by the court or authorized bodies, for which mitigating and aggravating circumstances are taken into account. The Administrative Code contains the main such circumstances that are taken into account by the court when making the decision. The offender may present evidence to reduce the sentence, and the prosecutor may convey to the judge evidence of violations by the citizen.
The concept of aggravated circumstances
Any administrative offense is a serious offense for which a citizen is held accountable. Punishment can be presented in several forms, but all aggravating circumstances identified by the prosecutor are taken into account. Administrative Code contains all such circumstances.
Sanctions applied to violators are determined by the court, authorized bodies or officials who have revealed the misconduct. According to the Code of Administrative Offenses, aggravating circumstances are presented in several varieties, and they are usually associated with the fact that at the time of the offense the citizen was intoxicated or interfered with the actions of law enforcement agencies.
Why used?
According to the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, circumstances aggravating administrative responsibility are taken into account in this way:
- all these factors indicate that the risk of an identified misconduct increases, so the court or other state bodies can apply serious sanctions and penalties to a citizen;
- if there is evidence of these circumstances, then the most significant fine may be imposed.
A list of all such factors is available in Art. 4.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, therefore, cannot be supplemented arbitrarily by prosecutors or officials. Representatives of various authorized bodies must have evidence of aggravating circumstances. The Code of Administrative Offenses contains an exhaustive list of such actions by the offender. It is the representatives of these bodies that draw up the protocol and consider the case if it is not required to submit it to the court.
The perpetrator may object to the charges and evidence presented. Often, at the request of citizens, such evidence was completely excluded from the materials of a particular case.
The main types of circumstances
All offenders should know what aggravating circumstances exist. In the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation Art. 4.3 contains a list of such actions by the citizen. These include the following:
- a person continues to behave illegally even if there is a demand on the part of authorized persons to stop these actions;
- repeated commission of an administrative offense immediately after the initial detection of the offense;
- implementation of illegal actions during natural disasters or other emergency situations;
- committing an offense not alone, but with the help of others;
- involvement of minor citizens in an offense;
- commission of misconduct in a state of intoxication, which is revealed after the survey.
Authorities or judges make their own decisions as to whether certain acts committed by a citizen are aggravating circumstances. The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation speaks of the possibility of toughening the punishment in identifying relevant signs. It is allowed to take into account other circumstances that increase the danger arising from the commission of an offense by a citizen.
What are extenuating circumstances?
There are not only actions of a citizen that can increase the size of the punishment, but also circumstances in which the punishment can be mitigated. Aggravating and mitigating circumstances are listed in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, but it is the offender who is interested in reducing the fine or other punishment. Judges and officials are required to consider evidence held by the accused.
The main mitigating circumstances include:
- sincere repentance of the citizen who committed the offense;
- a person notifies law enforcement authorities that he has committed a certain offense;
- the offender independently prevented various negative consequences of his actions, for example, compensated the damage;
- all actions were committed in a state of passion or during severe stress that arose due to family circumstances or personal reasons;
- the offense is committed by a person under the age of 18;
- the offender is a pregnant woman or a woman who has a baby up to three years.
The person who committed the offense must independently prepare evidence that there are truly extenuating circumstances. Usually experienced lawyers are involved.
How is punishment assigned?
When imposing any punishment for the offender, all available mitigating and aggravating circumstances are taken into account by the judges or authorized persons. The Code of Administrative Offenses contains a list of these circumstances, which is why prosecutors and lawyers should focus on it.
If there are aggravating circumstances, then you can demand the most severe punishment for the culprit of the incident. Therefore, often a fine is replaced by deprivation of rights or even administrative arrest for up to 15 days.
What evidence is needed?
According to the Code of Administrative Offenses, aggravating circumstances can be represented by various actions committed by the violator. But there must be evidence. They can be represented by the following types:
- a protocol which states that the culprit of the accident refused to undergo a medical examination, but the traffic inspector suspected that the citizen was intoxicated;
- a medical certificate drawn up by a doctor who conducted a medical examination, and this document should contain confirmation that the driver was drunk during a traffic violation or accident;
- various documents drawn up during the fixing of the offense, and they can be represented by all kinds of protocols, schemes, acts or other papers;
- certificates requested by employees of various authorized bodies and containing information about past violations of a citizen, his age and other characteristics;
- written testimonies;
- recordings from surveillance cameras;
- audio recordings made in the process of misconduct by the accused;
- other material evidence.
All of the above items and documents will certainly be examined by a judge or an authorized person making a decision regarding sentencing the offender. According to the Code of Administrative Offenses, circumstances aggravating administrative responsibility allow applying the most severe penalties to a citizen.
Often the court refuses to tighten the sentence, since it considers the evidence provided by the prosecutor insufficient.
The nuances of the choice of punishment
Under the Code of Administrative Offenses, aggravating circumstances are significant points taken into account by a court or other person who prescribes punishment for the offender. When choosing what consequences a citizen will have to face, factors are taken into account:
- if a person commits several offenses at once, for which several types of punishments can be applied, the court will impose the most severe sanction;
- it is taken into account that certain types of punishments cannot be applied to certain categories of the population, for example, a pregnant woman is not allowed to make an administrative arrest;
- if a sanction is selected that has both a minimum and a maximum size, then it is not allowed to go beyond the established limits even if there are aggravating signs.
The amount of aggravating circumstances also affects the punishment, but even if there are several such signs, it is impossible to go beyond the maximum size.
Statute of limitations in such cases
For administrative cases, there is a limitation period of its own. It is only three months old. If this period has already passed, then it is impossible to hold a citizen accountable.
If a continuing offense is detected, then the statute of limitations begins from the moment when unlawful actions by authorized persons are revealed. If unlawful acts are found, which are given in Art. 4.5 Administrative Code, then the statute of limitations is increased to one year. This includes offenses related to taxes, the environment or currencies.
Nuances for legal entities
Not only a citizen, but also a full-fledged company can act as an administrative offender. For its officials, aggravating circumstances are also applied under the Code of Administrative Offenses. Usually they are represented by the fact that repeated violations are identified related to the rules for calculating and paying taxes.
Different company officials act as violators. They are usually represented by directors or chief accountants. Often, the founders of an enterprise are brought to justice altogether.
Purpose of hard punishment
Prosecutors are seeking the most severe and substantial sanction to achieve several goals at once. These include:
- prevention in the future of repeated offenses committed by the same person or by several persons at once;
- holding violators accountable so that they are aware of the consequences of their illegal actions;
- providing information to others that if they violate the requirements of the law, they will have to face unpleasant consequences.
Not only private individuals, but also heads of various enterprises can be held liable. The same rules and regulations apply to them. Aggravating circumstances are the same for any offender.
Reasons for the abolition of punishment
The rules for applying various sanctions are governed by the provisions of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Although prosecutors try to provide the court with as much evidence as possible confirming the guilt of the offender and the presence of aggravating circumstances, it is the judge who makes the decision. It takes into account some special conditions presented by extenuating circumstances.
Punishment is not applied to the offender even if there are aggravating signs in the following situations:
- the culprit is a teenager who is not yet 14 years old;
- a citizen is recognized as insane, therefore he is not aware of the consequences of his actions, and most often this is due to the presence of any mental disorders;
- the victim does not file a complaint with the police or the court;
- misconduct was committed while protecting his life;
- a citizen commits an offense in the process of detention of another offender;
- there is evidence that the misconduct was carried out in connection with the need, for example, a person tried to protect the life or health of people.
The court examines all the evidence provided by both parties to the process. The prosecutor will certainly invoke aggravating circumstances. Article of the Code of Administrative Offenses No. 4.3 contains a list of such features that allow increasing the punishment.
Conclusion
Aggravating circumstances can be presented in several forms. If available, authorized persons or judges may impose the most severe penalties for offenders. But to account for such circumstances, the prosecutor must have official evidence.
In some situations, even with aggravating signs, citizens are not held accountable. Each situation is individual, therefore, not only the evidence of both parties is taken into account, but also the opinion of the judge.