The Cabinet of Ministers will submit bills to the State Duma to expand the use of deferred punishment

The Cabinet of Ministers approved draft laws of the Ministry of Justice allowing for the use of deferred sentences for those convicted of restricting the freedom of a pregnant woman, a woman with a child under 14 years of age, or a single father with a child under 14 years of age. The projects will be submitted to the Duma after final approval at a government meeting. This follows from the documents that Vedomosti reviewed.

One project makes changes to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, the second to the Criminal Executive Code. Now according to Art. 82 of the Criminal Code, these persons cannot receive a reprieve if they have been sentenced to restriction of freedom, as well as imprisonment for crimes against the sexual integrity of children under 14 years of age, imprisonment for a term of over five years for grave and especially grave crimes against the person and for a number of other crimes.

The explanatory note states that as of the end of 2022, the Federal Penitentiary Service registered 7,086 convicts for whom the court applied a deferred sentence. Of those registered as sentenced to restriction of freedom, 2,031 are women with a child under 14 years of age, 119 pregnant women, 139 men with a child under 14 years of age and who are a single parent.