diaphanein, it's called mitigating circumstances. It has always existed in the law.
As in: "Sorry, judge, I stabbed my husband 250 times but he beat the sh*t out of me everyday of our marriage."
Or: "I've never committed a crime before, I have a wife and five kids, and we've had no source of income for months now, I know robbing the liquor store was wrong, but I needed to feed my family."
Or: "I understand now what I did, and I'll never do it again. Don't send me to jail for 10 years, I'm only 18. I'll come out a worse criminal then than I am now. Give me parole and I'll prove I've changed."
Nothing new here.
It's retarded things like mandatory minimum sentences and 3-strike laws that are more messed up than weighing mitigating factors and the gray-ness of the law. Welcome to America.
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