I believe circumstance should be taken into account, but not for the purposes of assigning agency, which is a fantasy concept. It should inform the probability

I believe circumstance should be taken into account, but not for the purposes of assigning agency, which is a fantasy concept. It should inform the probability of recidivism, the chances that rehabilitation will work, etc, and therefore inform what type and duration of sentence/treatment is appropriate for a given case. To your example, belief that something is an emergency means that P(recidivism) is effectively the same as if they hadn't committed the action, which is the real reason why there shouldn't be any sentence given to that individual.