California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Webber, 228 Cal.App.3d 1146, 279 Cal.Rptr. 437 (Cal. App. 1991):
The court has an obligation to convince itself that, when compared to other ways in which such a crime could be committed, the manner of the instant crime's commission indicated viciousness and callousness. (People v. Harvey (1984) 163 Cal.App.3d 90, 117, 208 Cal.Rptr. 910.) " 'The essence of "aggravation" relates to the effect of a particular fact in making the offense distinctively worse than the ordinary.' " (Ibid.)
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