Taking the circumstances of the offender into account as one of the conditions for determining the type of punishment and its assessment
Abstract
The paper deals with one of the basic requirements for the individualization of the sentence, which is taking the circumstances of the offender into account. This is a legal condition for determining the type of punishment and its length, which, however, often remains overlooked in application practice.
Many court decisions do not contain a single mention of the offender's circumstances, their prooving and evaluation, which causes not only the illegality and unreviewability of such decisions, but also the illegitimacy of the sentence imposed, which in such a case can hardly fulfill its purpose. Given that the suggested court practice is not a matter of a few cases, but the courts deviate from the law quite often, I consider it appropriate to point out the importance of this issue and express a critical comment in relation to current application practice.