The State Duma softened the conditions of parole for some convicted mothers – Kommersant

At a plenary session, the State Duma adopted in the second and third readings draft amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, raising to four years the age of children whose mothers can count on parole from liability. The bill was submitted to parliament by the Russian government in February 2023 and adopted in the first reading in April 2023. According to current standards, pregnant women and mothers of children under three years of age who have served at least a quarter of their sentence for crimes of minor gravity can qualify for parole. Such women are also given the right to have the unserved part of their sentence replaced with a more lenient one. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, crimes of minor gravity include offenses with a sentence of no more than three years in prison (we are talking, for example, about beatings or murder in a state of passion or when the limits of self-defense are exceeded).

The norms adopted by the State Duma increase to four years the age of children whose mothers can count on parole and the replacement of the unserved part of the sentence with a more lenient one. The explanatory note to the bill noted that the innovations “will create greater opportunities for respecting the rights of motherhood and childhood, will contribute to the preservation of family ties of convicted women serving sentences of imprisonment, as well as reducing the number of women held in prison together with children.” . According to the document, the new norms will come into force 180 days after the official publication of the law. Ivan Tyazhlov