erschwerenden

Erschwerenden is the attributive form of the participle erschwerend (aggravating) and is commonly used in German criminal law to describe circumstances that increase the severity of a crime’s penalty. In practice the term appears most often in the plural phrase erschwerende Umstände or erschwerende Faktoren, which denote specific features of an offense or of the offender that justify a harsher sentence than the baseline penalty.

In sentencing, German law distinguishes aggravating (erschwerende) and mitigating (mildernde) circumstances. Aggravating factors can concern the crime itself (for example, brutality, planning, or the use of weapons), the impact on victims (such as vulnerability of the victim), or characteristics of the offender (prior convictions, abuse of trust). They are weighed by the court to determine the appropriate degree of punishment within or beyond the standard statutory range, potentially leading to a higher sentence or the application of special qualification provisions in certain cases.

Examples of commonly cited erschwerende Umstände include violent or premeditated conduct, crimes against particularly vulnerable victims, repetition or especially harmful effects, and offenses carried out under aggravating circumstances like public importance or abuse of authority. The exact impact of these factors depends on the offense, jurisdiction, and the overall context of the case.

Linguistically, erschwerenden is not typically used alone as a noun; it functions as the attributive participle modifying Umstände or Faktoren. The related concept of mitigating circumstances (mildernde Umstände) is the counterpart in sentencing.

See also: mildernde Umstände, Strafzumessung, StGB (General principles of sentencing).