Should the imposition of a custodial sentence be unavoidable in the course of criminal proceedings, our experienced criminal defense lawyers in Nuremberg will use all legal means to ensure that it is suspended on probation.
If a custodial sentence is imposed on “probation,” this initially means that the convicted person does not have to go to a correctional facility. For the person concerned, it should therefore always be the primary goal to have a custodial sentence suspended on probation.
The Criminal Code stipulates that custodial sentences of up to 2 years can be suspended on probation. The decision on whether or not to suspend a custodial sentence on probation is made by the competent court. The judge makes this decision based on a diligent prognosis and considering the defendant's life circumstances, assessing whether the convicted person can be expected to lead a crime-free life and how they will behave in the future.
This involves examining the convicted person's personality, their past life, the circumstances of the offense, and their social conditions. The assessment also includes the potential impact of a custodial sentence. The more positive the social prognosis, the higher the probability that a custodial sentence can be suspended on probation.
If a sentence is suspended on probation, the court sets a specific probationary period, which is independent of the duration of the custodial sentence and ranges between two and five years. It can be extended retrospectively by the court. During the probationary period, it is checked whether the convicted person truly deserves the suspension on probation and whether they adhere to the imposed probationary conditions. Thus, they must remain absolutely crime-free during the probationary period.
A frequent goal of defense in criminal proceedings is to reach an agreement with the court and public prosecutor's office on a suspended sentence prior to the trial. Here, the central task of the criminal defense lawyer is to establish facts early on that positively influence the defendant's prognosis.
