BORROMEO JOHN PAUL CRIMINAL LAW 1

JD-1

TITLE THREE PENALTIES

Chapter One

PENALTIES IN GENERAL PENALTY – suffering inflicted by the State for the transgression of a
law.

Different Juridical Conditions Of Penalty:

1. Must be productive of suffering, without however affecting the integrity of the human personality.

2. Must be commensurate with the offense – different crimes must be punished with different penalties.

3. Must be personal – no one should be punished for the crime of another.

4. Must be legal – it is the consequence of a judgment according to law.

5. Must be certain – no one may escape its effects.

6. Must be equal for all.

7. Must be correctional.

Purpose of the State in Punishing Crimes

The State has an existence of its own to maintain, a conscience to assert, and moral principles to be
vindicated. Penal justice must therefore be exercised by the State in the service and satisfaction of a duty,
and rests primarily on the moral rightfulness of the punishment inflicted (to secure justice). The basis of
the right to punish violations of penal law is the police power of the State.

Theories Justifying Penalty:

1. Prevention – to prevent or suppress the danger to the State arising from the criminal act of the
offender.

2. Self-defense – so as to protect society from the threat and wrong inflicted by the criminal. 3.
Reformation – the object of punishment in criminal cases is to correct and reform the offender.

4. Exemplarity – the criminal is punished to serve as an example to deter others from committing crimes.
5. Justice – that crime must be punished by the State as an act of retributive justice, a vindication of
absolute right and moral law violated by the criminal.

Three-Fold Purpose Of Penalty Under The Code:

1. Retribution or expiation – the penalty is commensurate with the gravity of the offense.
2. Correction or reformation – shown by the rules which regulate the execution of the penalties
consisting in deprivation of liberty.

3. Social defense – shown by its inflexible severity to recidivists and habitual delinquents.

ART.21.PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED

RULE:

A felony shall be punishable only by the penalty prescribed by law at the time of its commission. (Art. 21
simply announces the policy of the state as regards punishment of crimes)

REASON: Because a law cannot be rationally obeyed unless it is first shown, and a man cannot be
expected to obey an order that has not been given.

 It is a guaranty to the citizens of this country that no act will be considered criminal until the
Government has made it so by law and has provided a penalty. ƒ
 Subsidiary penalty for a crime cannot be imposed, if it was “not prescribed by law prior to its
commission” (US vs. Macasaet 11Phil.447)

ART.22.RETROACTIVE EFFECT OF PENAL LAWS

NOTE: According to Reyes, Art. 22 is NOT applicable to the provisions of the RPC. Its application
to the RPC can only be invoked where some former or subsequent law is under consideration.

GENERAL RULE: Penal laws are applied prospectively. EXCEPTION: When retrospective application
will be favourable to the person guilty of a felony; provided that:

1. The offender is NOT a habitual criminal (delinquent) under Art. 62(5); 2.

2. The new or amendatory law does NOT provide against its retrospective application.

The favourable retroactive effect of a new law may find the defendant in one of the 3 situations:

1. The crime has been committed and the prosecution begins

2. The sentence has been passed but service has not begun 3. The sentence is being carried out

 HABITUAL DELINQUENT - A person who, within a period of ten years from the date of his
release or last conviction of the crimes of serious or less serious physical injuries, robbery, theft,
estafa, or falsification, is found guilty of any said crimes a third time or oftener.

 EX POST FACTO LAW - An act which when committed was not a crime, cannot be made so
by statute without violating the constitutional inhibition as to ex post facto laws.
An ex post facto law is one which

1. Makes criminal an act done before the passage of the law and which was innocent when done;
2. Aggravates a crime, or makes it greater than it was, when committed;
 3. Changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to the crime
when committed;

4. Alters the legal rules of evidence, and authorizes conviction upon a less or different testimony
than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense;

5. Assumes to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in effect imposing a penalty or deprivation
of a right for something which when done was lawful; and

6. Deprives a person accused of a crime of some lawful protection to which he has become
entitled, such as the protection of a former conviction or acquittal, or a proclamation of amnesty.

 ƒ If retroactive effect of a new law is justified, it shall apply to the defendant even if he is:

1. Presently on trial for the offense;

2. Has already been sentenced but service of which has not begun; or

3. Already serving sentence

The retroactive effect of criminal statutes does NOT apply to the culprit’s civil liability.

REASON: The rights of offended persons or innocent third parties are not within the gift of
arbitrary disposal of the State. ƒ

 The provisions of Art. 22 are applicable even to special laws which provide more favorable
conditions to the accused.
 ƒ New law may provide that its provisions not to be applied to cases already filed in court at the
time of the approval of such law.

Criminal liability under the repealed law SUBSISTS:

1. When the provisions of the former law are re-enacted; or (Note: The right to punish offenses
committed under an old penal law is not extinguished if the offenses are still punishable in the repealing
penal law.)

2. When the repeal is by implication; or (Note: When a penal law, which impliedly repealed an old law,
is itself repealed, the repeal of the repealing law revives the prior penal law, unless the language of the
repealing statute provides otherwise. If the repeal is absolute, criminal liability is obliterated.)

3. When there is a saving clause.

BILL OF ATTAINDER – A legislative act which inflicts punishment without trial.

 ART.23.EFFECT OF PARDON BY THE OFFENDED PARTY–

GENERAL RULE: Pardon by the offended party does not extinguish the criminal liability of the
offender. REASON: A crime committed is an offense against the State. Only the Chief Executive
can pardon the offenders.

EXCEPTION: Pardon by the offended party will bar criminal prosecution in the following crimes:
ƒAdultery and Concubinage (Art. 344, RPC) EXPRESS or IMPLIED pardon must be given by
offended party to BOTH offenders.

– Pardon must be given PRIOR to institution of criminal action. ƒ

Seduction, Abduction, Acts of Lasciviousness (Art. 344, RPC)

 EXPRESS pardon given by offended party or her parents or grandparents or guardian

 Pardon must be given PRIOR to the institution of the criminal action. However, marriage
between the offender and the offended party EVEN AFTER the institution of the criminal action
or conviction of the offender will extinguish the criminal action or remit the penalty already
imposed against the offender, his co principals, accomplices and accessories after the fact. ƒ

Rape (as amended by R.A. 8353) - The subsequent valid marriage between the offender and the offended
party shall extinguish criminal liability or the penalty imposed. In case the legal husband is the offender,
subsequent forgiveness by the wife as offended party shall also produce the same effect.

 Pardon by the offended party under Art. 344 is ONLY A BAR to criminal prosecution; it is NOT
a ground for extinguishment of criminal liability. It DOES NOT extinguish criminal liability. It is
not one of the causes that totally extinguish criminal liability in Art 89 ƒ

 Nevertheless, civil liability may be extinguished by the EXRESS WAIVER of the offended party.
Civil liability w/ regard to the interest of the injured party is extinguished by the latter’s express
waiver because personal injury may be repaired through indemnity. Waiver must be express.
State has no reason to insist on its payment.

AN OFFENSE CAUSES TWO CLASSES OF INJURIES:

SOCIAL INJURY

 Produced by the disturbance and alarm which are the outcome of the offense.
 Is sought to be repaired through the imposition of the corresponding penalty
 The offended party cannot pardon the offender so as to relieve him of the penalty

PERSONAL INJURY

 Caused to the victim of the crime who suffered damage either to his person, to his property, to his
honor or to her chastity.
 Is repaired through indemnity.
  The offended party may waive the indemnity and the State has no reason to insist in its payment.

ART.24.MEASURES OF PREVENTION OR SAFETY, WHICH ARE NOT

CONSIDERED PENALTIES

The Following Shall Not Be Considered As Penalties:

1. The arrest and temporary detention of accused persons, as well as their detention by reason of insanity
or imbecility, or illness requiring their confinement in a hospital.

2. The commitment of a minor to any of the institutions mentioned in Art. 80 (now Art.192, PD No. 603)
and for the purposes specified therein.

3. Suspension from the employment or public office during the trial or in order to institute proceedings.

4. Fines and other corrective measures which, in the exercise of their administrative or disciplinary
powers, superior officials may impose upon their subordinates.

5. Deprivation of rights and the reparations which the civil law may establish in penal form.

Reasons why they are not penalties:

1. Because they are not imposed as a result of judicial proceedings. Those mentioned in paragraphs 1, 3
and 4 are merely preventive measures before conviction of offenders.

2. The offender is not subjected to or made to suffer these measures in expiation of or as punishment for
a crime.

Note: Those in par 1, 3 and 4 are merely preventive measures before the conviction of offenders.

 ƒ Par. 1 refers to “accused persons” who are detained “by reason of insanity or imbecility.” It
does not refer to the confinement of an insane or imbecile who has not been arrested for a crime.
It
 ƒ Paragraphs 3 and 4 refer to administrative suspension and administrative fines and not to
suspension or fine as penalties for violations of the RPC. Fines in par. 4 do not constitute as
penalties because they are not imposed by the court.
 ƒ The deprivations of rights established in penal form by the civil laws is illustrated in the case of
parents who are deprived of their parental authority if found guilty of the crime of corruption of
their minor children, in accordance with Art. 332 of the Civil Code.
 ƒ Where a minor offender was committed to a reformatory pursuant to Art. 80 (now, PD 603),
and while thus detained he commits a crime therein, he cannot be considered a quasi-recidivist
since his detention was only a preventive measure, whereas a quasirecidivism presupposes the
commission of a crime during the service of the penalty for a previous crime.
 ƒ Commitment of a minor is not a penalty because it is not imposed by the court in a judgment.
The imposition of the sentence in such a case is suspended.