The mitigating circumstance of confession in the Penal Code

shetu24

Mitigating circumstances are those that, if they occur in the commission of the crime, have the effect of reducing the sentence, since they somehow reduce the level of responsibility of the subject. However, the Penal Code also contemplates other mitigating circumstances that respond to different reasons, such as the mitigating circumstance of confession, since it is based on a circumstance that occurs after the commission of the crime, and which, therefore, does not reduce the degree of responsibility at the time of the incident. Let's see when this extenuating circumstance occurs and what its requirements are. We can help you At Dexia Abogados we are lawyers specializing in criminal law in Madrid . If you need a criminal law firm with extensive experience, contact us and find out without obligation . CONTACT US What does the extenuating confession consist of? Currently, article 21 of the Penal Code contemplates two mitigating circumstances that derive from the previous mitigating circumstance of spontaneous repentance, but with a more objective meaning, since they have been stripped of the moral or ethical element that could be derived from it.

In accordance with the expression of article 2we can no longer speak of spontaneous repentance, among other things, because it is irrelevant whether the perpetrator of the crime repents or not. The extenuating circumstance for confession , strictly speaking, is that contemplated in article The fact that the guilty party has proceeded, before knowing that the judicial procedure is directed against him, to confess the infraction to the authorities." Article , for its part, contemplates the mitigating factor of reparation of damage , consisting of “the guilty party having proceeded to repair the damage caused to the DM Databases victim, or reduce its effects, at any time during the procedure and prior to the celebration.” of the oral trial.” However, although both are two aspects of the old mitigating factor of spontaneous repentance, in this article we are going to focus only on the mitigating factor of confession. What are the requirements for mitigating confession? The requirements to appreciate this mitigating circumstance are objective: Confess the guilty party to the infraction or crime to the authorities.



Do it before knowing the judicial procedure that is directed against him. Motivation for confession The subject's motivation to confess is no longer to act out of an impulse of spontaneous repentance, as was previously required (which was also quite difficult to prove). In fact, none in particular is required, since it is totally irrelevant. The important thing is that this confession exists and the moment in which it occurs. Basis of mitigation The basis for an extenuating circumstance like this is of a criminal political nature , and is none other than to reward in some way the guilty party favoring judicial persecution. The mitigating circumstance is appreciated when the subject acts before learning about the judicial procedure against him, to be interrupted for 6 months by the presentation of a complaint or complaint filed before a judicial body, in which a specific person is attributed his or her alleged participation in the act constituting the crime.