Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CLASSICAL SCHOOL:
1. The basis of criminal liability is human free will and the
purpose of the penalty is retribution
2. That man is essentially a moral creature with an absolute
free will to choose between good and evil, thereby
placing more stress upon the effect or result of the
felonious act, than upon the man, the criminal himself.
POSITIVIST SCHOOL:
1. That man is subdued occasionally by a strange and
morbid phenomenon which constrains him to do wrong in
spite of, or contrary to his volition.
2. That crime is essentially a social and natural
phenomenon, and as such, it cannot be treated and
checked by the application of abstract principles of law
and jurisprudence nor by the imposition of a punishment.
FELONIES
b. NEGLIGENCE:
This imports a deficiency of perception – there is a
failure to pay proper attention and to use diligence
in foreseeing the injury or damage impending to be
caused. It arises because of a lack of foresight.
REQUISITES OF DOLO:
1. Criminal INTENT on the part of the offender.
INTENT is the purpose to use a particular means to effect a
result.
Generally, Intent is presumed from the commission of an
unlawful act.
2. FREEDOM of action in doing the act on the part of the
offender.
One who acts without freedom is no longer a human being but a
tool. Thus, if one acts under the compulsion of an irresistible
force or because of an uncontrollable fear is criminally exempt
under Art. 12, Section 5.
3. INTELLIGENCE on the part of the offender in doing the act.
One without intelligence necessarily does not have the
capability to determine the morality of his acts.
Criminal intent is presumed from the
commission of an unlawful act, but not from
the proof of the commission of an act which is
not unlawful.
1. Legal Impossibility
There is legal impossibility if the intended acts, even if
completed, would not amount to a felony.
In the same way the court shall submit to the Chief Executive,
through the Department of Justice, such statement or report as
may be deemed proper, without suspending the execution of
the sentence, when a strict enforcement of the provisions of this
code would result in the imposition of a clearly excessive
penalty, taking into consideration the degree of malice and the
injury caused by the offense.
STAGES OF EXECUTION
Article 6. Consummated, frustrated, and attempted
felonies. – Consummated, as well as those which are
frustrated and attempted are punishable.
A felony is consummated when all the elements
necessary for its execution and accomplishment are
present;
and it is frustrated when the offender performs all
the acts of execution which would produce the felony
as a consequence but which, nevertheless, do not
produce it by reason of causes independent of the will
of the perpetrator.
There is an attempt when the offender commences the
commission of a felony directly by overt acts, and
does not perform all the acts which should produce the
felony by reason of some cause or accident other than
his own spontaneous desistance.
STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CRIME:
1. Internal Acts:
“ No man deserves a punishment for a thought”.
2. External Acts:
a. Preparatory Acts:
These are ordinarily NOT punishable, except when the law
provides for their punishment in certain cases.
b. Acts of Execution:
These are already punishable under the Revised Penal
Code.
I. ATTEMPTED STAGE:
Requisites:
1. The offender performs all acts of execution
2. All acts performed would produce the felony as a
consequence
3. But the felony is not produced
4. By reason of causes independent of the will of the
perpetrator.
III. CONSUMMATED FELONY:
Capital Punishment:
• Death
Afflictive Penalties:
• Reclusion Perpetua
• Reclusion Temporal
• Perpetual or temporary absolute disqualification
• Perpetual or temporary special disqualification
• Prision mayor
Correccional Penalties:
• Prision correccional
• Arresto Mayor
• Suspension
• Destierro
Light Penalties:
Arresto menor
Public censure
ACCESSORY PENALTIES
Prision mayor and temporary disqualification. 6 years and 1 day to 12 years, except
when the disqualification is imposed as an accessory penalty, its duration shall be
that of the principal penalty.
Prision correccional, suspension and destierro. 6 months and 1 day to 6 years, except
when suspension is imposed as an accessory penalty, its duration shall be that of
the principal penalty.
Bond to keep the peace – The bond to keep the peace shall be required to cover such
period of time as the court may determine.
THE THREE-FOLD RULE
Notwithstanding the provisions of the rule next
preceding, the maximum duration of the convict’s
sentence shall not be more than threefold the length
of time corresponding to the most severe of the
penalties imposed upon him. No other penalty to
which he may be liable shall be inflicted after the
sum of those imposed equals the said maximum
period.
Such maximum period shall in no case exceed forty
years.
In applying the provisions of this rule the duration of
perpetual penalties (pena perpetua) shall be
computed at thirty years.
Article 8. CONSPIRACY AND PROPOSAL TO
COMMIT FELONY. – Conspiracy and proposal to
commit felony are punishable only in the cases in
which the law specially provides a penalty
therefor.
A conspiracy exists when two or more persons
come to an agreement concerning the commission
of a felony and decide to commit it.
There is proposal when the person who has
decided to commit a felony proposes its execution
to some other person or persons.
CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH AFFECT CRIMINAL LIABILITY
• Basically, there are five (5) circumstances which affect criminal liability:
JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES: Those where the acts of a person are said
to be in accordance with the law, so that he had not transgressed the law,
and has no criminal or civil liability, save in Paragraph 4 of Article 11
where the civil liability is borne by the person benefited by the act.
EXEMPTING CIRCUMSTANCES: Those where there is an absence of the
element of voluntariness, and thus, though there is a crime, there is still no
criminal liability.
MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES: Those that have the effect of reducing the
penalty because there is a diminution of any of the elements of DOLO or
CULPA which makes the act voluntary or because of the lesser perversity
of the offender.
AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES: Those which serve to increase the
penalty without exceeding the maximum provided by law because of the
greater perversity of the offender as shown by the motivating power of
the commission of the crime, the time and place of its commission, the
means employed or the personal circumstances of the offender.
ALTERNATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES: Those which are either aggravating or
mitigating according to the nature and effects of the crime and other
conditions attending its commission.
Article 11. JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES. – The following do
not incur any criminal liability:
Paragraph 1. SELF-DEFENSE:
Anyone who acts in defense of his person or
rights, provided that the following
circumstances concur:
1. Unlawful aggression
2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed
to repel it;
3. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of
the person defending himself.
Art. 11, Paragraph 2. DEFENSE OF RELATIVES:
Anyone who acts in defense of the person or rights of his spouse,
ascendants, descendants, or legitimate, natural, or adopted brothers or
sisters or of his relatives by affinity in the same degrees, and those
by consanguinity within the fourth civil degree, provided that the first
and second requisites prescribed in the next preceding circumstance
are present, and the further requisite , in case the provocation was
given by the person attacked, that the one making defense had no part
therein.
1. Spouse
2. Ascendants
3. Descendants
4. Legitimate or illegitimate or adopted brothers or sisters, or
relatives by affinity in the same degree
5. Relatives by consanguinity within the fourth civil degree.
DEFENSE OF STRANGERS:
Anyone who acts in defense of the person or rights
of a stranger, provided that the first and second
requisites mentioned in the first circumstance of
this article are present and that the person
defending be not induced by revenge, resentment
or other evil motive.
Article 12. Circumstances which exempt from criminal liability. – The following
are exempt from criminal liability:
Paragraph 1:
An imbecile or an insane person, unless the latter has acted during a lucid
interval.
IMBECILITY:
One who, while advanced in age, has a mental development comparable to that
of children between two and seven years. This circumstance is exempting in ALL
CASES.
INSANITY:
This is exempting, unless one acted during a lucid interval. To constitute insanity,
there must be complete deprivation of intelligence or that there be a total
deprivation of the freedom of the will.
EXEMPTING CIRCUMSTANCES
Article 12, Paragraphs 2 and 3
2. A person under nine (9) years of age.
3. A person over nine (9) years of age and under fifteen (15), unless he
has acted with discernment, in which case, such minor shall be
proceeded against in accordance with article 192 of PD 603.
NOTE: On April 28, 2006, Gloria Arroyo signed into law Republic
Act No. 9344 otherwise known as the “JUVENILE JUSTICE and
WELFARE ACT OF 2006”. The law became effective on May 21,
2006.
Under RA 9344 minors aged fifteen (15) and below are now
absolutely exempt from criminal liability. If a minor above fifteen
(15) but below eighteen (18) commits a crime, he is not exempt from
criminal liability unless it is shown that he acted with discernment.
However, should the minor above fifteen (15) but below eighteen be
found guilty, RA 9344 also mandates the Courts to automatically
suspend the sentence. In all cases, the minor offender must be
referred to the appropriate government agency for rehabilitation.
EXEMPTING CIRCUMSTANCES
Article 12, Paragraph 4 :Any person who, while performing
a lawful act with due care, causes an injury by mere accident
without fault or intention of causing it.
Elements:
(a) A person is performing a lawful act
(b) With due care
(c) He causes injury to another by mere accident
(d) Without fault or intention of causing it.
Elements:
a. The compulsion is by means of physical force.
b. The physical force is irresistible.
c. The physical force comes from a third person.
Elements:
a. That the threat which caused the fear is of an evil greater than
or at least equal to, that which he is required to commit.
b. That it promises an evil of such gravity and imminence that the
ordinary man would have succumbed to it.
Elements:
a. An act is required by law to be done.
b. A person fails to perform such act/s.
c. The failure to perform the act was due to some lawful or insuperable cause.
LAWFUL CAUSE: Privileged Communication Rule – Under the Rules on Evidence, certain
persons in a relationship (such as that between spouses or between an Attorney and his
Client) are prohibited from testifying in Court as to any information that the parties
received, during the existence of the said relationship. The information so received is
considered privileged communication, and thus causes a lawful cause to exempt a person
from criminal liability should he not divulge the information, even on pain of criminal
prosecution.
• Passion or obfuscation is mitigating only when the same arose from lawful
sentiments. It is not mitigating when:
(a) The act is committed in a spirit of lawlessness;
(b) The act is committed in a spirit of revenge.
Requisites:
• There must be an act, both unlawful and sufficient to produce such a condition of
mind and
• Said act, which produced the obfuscation, was not far removed from the
commission of the crime by a considerable length of time, during which the
perpetrator may recover his equanimity.
MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCE
• Article 13, Paragraph 7: That the offender
had voluntarily surrendered himself to a person
in authority or his agents, or that he had
voluntarily confessed his guilt before the court
prior to the presentation of evidence for the
prosecution.
There are two mitigating circumstances in this
paragraph:
• Voluntary surrender to a person in authority or
his agents;
• Voluntary plea of guilt.
MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCE
• The Public Officer must use the influence, prestige of ascendancy, which his
office gives him as the means by which he realizes his purpose. The Question
is: “Did the accused abuse his office in order to commit the crime?”
• Recidivist: One who, at the time of his trial for one crime, shall have been
previously convicted by final judgment of another crime embraced in the
same title of the Revised Penal Code.
Article 14, Paragraph 10: That the offender has been previously
punished for an offense to which the law attaches an equal or greater
penalty or for two or more crimes to which it attaches a lighter penalty.
• QUASI-COLLECTIVE CRIMINAL
RESPONSIBILITY: This comprehends a situation
where some are principals while the others are
accomplices.
ART. 19. ACCESSORIES
• Accessories are those who, having knowledge of the commission
of the crime, and without having participated therein, either as
principals or accomplices, take part subsequent to its commission
in any of the following manners:
1. By profiting themselves or assisting the offender to profit by
the effects of the crime;
2. By concealing or destroying the body of the crime or the
effects or instruments thereof, in order to prevent its
discovery;
3. By harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the
principal of the crime, provided the accessory acts with
abuse of his public functions or whenever the author of the
crime is guilty of treason, parricide, murder, or an attempt to
take the life of the Chief Executive, or is known to be
habitually guilty of some other crime.