| Abstract [eng] |
There are some acts of people in society that are negative and not in line with society's moral norms. Theft, murder, bribery and other criminal acts are illegal and criminalised by the legislator, and one of the ways in which criminal responsibility is exercised is through the imposition of a penalty for the offence committed. The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania stipulates that justice in Lithuania shall be administered only by the courts. When administering justice and imposing sentences on persons who have committed criminal offences, the latter must ensure that the sentences imposed are fair and fulfil the purpose of punishment. In some cases, the penalties provided for in the articles of the special part of the criminal law do not correspond to a fair punishment in the context of the offence, which is why the legislator has provided for a number of mitigating measures that can be applied only in exceptional cases. The aim of this paper is to present the concept of exceptional mitigation of punishment norms provided for in Articles 62, 54(3), 64-1 of the CC, as well as the peculiarities of their application in practice, based on scientific literature and the case law of the Lithuanian courts. Article 54(3) of the CC is applicable if the sentence imposed is contrary to the principle of justice, Article 62 of the CC provides for a number of circumstances which the court must establish if it seeks to mitigate a sentence under this provision, and ground 64-1 relates to the expeditious completion of the criminal proceedings. However, there are also conditions which are not explicitly provided for in the law but have been developed in practice, and thus this topic is most clearly revealed by an analysis of Lithuanian case law. For example, the rule that, when considering the possibility of applying exceptional mitigation norms to an offender, mitigation under Article 62 of the CC is to be considered first, and then under Article 54(3) of the CC, is a condition which is not provided for in the criminal law, but which has been clarified by the case law and has been followed to date. With the help of the analysis of scientific literature and Lithuanian practice, this work reveals the peculiarities of the application of Articles 62, 54(3) and 64-1 of the CC. |
