Aggravating impact of undifferentiated direct intent on sentencing: abandonment of prior BGH jurisprudence

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) 5th Criminal Senate issued a resolution affirming the legal view of the requesting 2nd Criminal Senate and explicitly abandoning its own prior jurisprudence, thereby prevails the lower court's interpretation over the established precedent. The dispute arose from a formal reference procedure under Section 121 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, addressing the correct sentencing treatment of direct intent (Vorsatz) that has not been further differentiated between forms of intent. The decisive legal basis is the rejection of the previous doctrine that allowed for a blanket aggravating impact on sentencing based on unspecified direct intent, as established in the 2015 decision referenced in the tenor, thereby mandating a more nuanced approach to sentencing considerations regarding intent.