Special circumstances as a basis for differentiation of suspended sentence in German criminal law

The paper deals with an essential and at the same time underinvestigated aspect of legislative regulation and practical application of a suspended sentence in Russian science from the standpoint of German criminal law. It is referred to the differentiation of the terms and grounds for imposing a suspended sentence within the criminal legislation. This differentiation involves a suspended sentence as one of the main priorities of criminal policy to reduce the use of imprisonment when the low to medium level offences are committed. The author researches the mentioned problem not only from the viewpoint of legislative regulation in the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany but also from the perspective of the doctrinal interpretation and basic points in judicial practice. The study compares the differentiation of a suspended sentence in German legislation in line with the relevant provisions of Russian criminal law.