If you’ve read transcripts of court proceedings or watched courtroom dramas, you might have heard the terms ‘aggravating factor’ and ‘mitigating factor’. They appear quite often in more serious criminal hearings, like sexual assault and murder cases.
These terms aren’t just legalese written in records for their own sake. They can affect the severity of a crime and a person’s guilt, and can lead to harsher or lighter punishments, depending on which is more plausible. Let’s look at the differences between Aggravating and Mitigating Factors in a case.
What’s Aggravating?
Aggravating factors increase the severity of a crime and a defendant’s guilt. An increasing number of these kinds of factors can elevate a charge from a lower classification to a higher one up the chain automatically. A confirmed link to the defendant could make it more difficult to have the charges dismissed.
Aggravating factors vary in level and severity depending on the case. They can be as simple as confirmed premeditation for the crime to the intentional use of deadly weapons and force. Other factors can also be taken into account, like an increased risk of re-offending, a previous criminal record, and the defendant’s current mental condition.
What’s Mitigating?
On the opposite end, mitigating factors intend to reduce the severity of a defendant's crime. A greater number of mitigating factors can lessen the impact of the charge and open the defendant to lesser penalties.
Much like aggravating factors, mitigating factors can vary in level depending on the charge. At worst, they can reduce your sentence; at best, they give you a chance to achieve a dismissal even for the worst crimes. Such factors may include the defendant’s background, circumstances out of the defendant’s control, or the defendant’s admission of guilt.
How They Interact
Both factors can affect the outcome of any criminal hearing significantly. As stated earlier, aggravating factors increase the severity of a crime, while mitigating factors reduce it. A defendant must always aim to have more mitigating factors to avoid the worst penalties and/or get a dismissal.
One must remember that Nevada courts must find enough aggravating factors before they can elevate a person’s sentence. Multiple mitigators can invalidate the effect of one heavy aggravating factor, protecting the defendant from the worst convictions. However, there are instances where the aggravating factor is so serious that no number of mitigating factors can reduce its effect.
Factors affecting your charge can spell the difference between a dismissal and a direct transfer to death row. Ask your legal counsel about how to handle these features in your case.