A mitigating circumstance provided for in paragraph «a» of Part 1 of Article 61 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The issue of sentencing, taking into account the mitigating circumstance provided for in paragraph «a» of Part 1 of Article 61 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – «the first time commission of a crime of little or average gravity due to a coincidence» is considered in the article. It is proposed to consider this circumstance as an atypical one, since it contains a number of conditions, some of which relate to the act, some – to the identity of the perpetrator, and some – to the causes of the crime. The condition «coincidence» is a matter of fact revealed through evaluative signs. It is reasonable to consider «the first time commission of a crime of little or average gravity» as an independent mitigating circumstance.