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Vorstrafe

prior conviction; previous criminal record

noun FOR-shtra-fe Rare

Usage Note

Vorstrafe is a previous criminal conviction recorded in the Bundeszentralregister. Having Vorstrafen is an aggravating factor when sentencing. Vorbestraft sein — to have a prior conviction.

Examples

"Der Angeklagte hatte keine Vorstrafen, was das Gericht strafmildernd berücksichtigte."

Natural Translation

The defendant had no prior convictions, which the court considered a mitigating factor.

Literal Translation

The accused had no prior-convictions, which the court sentence-mitigating considered.

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