INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY

CRIMES AND FELONIES

CRIME-
An illegal act for which someone can face government punishment, particularly a flagrant
violation of the law 2: a serious offense, particularly against morality. 3: anti-crime efforts

FELONY-
Under the revised penal code (act 3815)
Felonies (delitos) - It is an act or omission that is punishable by law. Felonies are committed not
only through deception (dolo), but also through fault (culpa). There is deception when the act is
performed with malicious intent, and fault when the wrongful act is the result of imprudence,
negligence, lack of foresight, or lack of skills.

ELEMENTS OF FELONIES:
1. There must be an act or omission
2. Punishable by law
3. Incurred by means of deceit or fault

TERM
The term “felony” came from English common law (from the French medieval word “félonie”)
to describe an offense that resulted in the confiscation of a convicted person’s land and goods, to
which additional punishments, including the death penalty, could be added; other crimes were
referred to as misdemeanors.

LET US FOCUS ON TWO WORD

(THE ACT AND OMISSION)

-ACT MEANING
An act is any action, bodily movement or something that can produce some effect. Examples are
walking, raising of hand, pointing fingers, and any things that uses modify movement, another
example is the felony by performing an act, Like “a thief took the bag of a old woman with
intend tooking and without the permission of the woman” this , and this basically anywhere in
the public place, like in the market or in public transportation. This type of act is considered as A
FELONY OF ROBBERY.

TWO TYPES OF ACT

EXTERNAL and INTERNAL ACT

EXTERNAL ACT
External acts commanded, performed by a person under pending violence which could be
reasonably resisted, are involuntary and, therefore, not imputable.
Example: A person is already committed the murder

INTERNAL ACT
Refer to the purely mental facilities under the command of the will.
Example: A person is mad to another person , and imagining to kill that person ,

OMISSION MEANING

Omission is defined as the failure to perform an agreed-upon act, where there is a duty to act to
an individual or the public (including failing to take care), or where it is required by law. A
similar to a negligent or improper act, such an omission may give rise to a lawsuit
Example: A taxi driver accidentally crash the car and his passenger die.

NEGLECT OF DUTY
Example: A pnp failed to do his/her duty as police officer, like Allowing two people to fight and
didn’t take an action to stop it.
 CLASSES OF CRIME
Mala in se – A crime or act that is intrinsically immoral, because they vioate moral values such
as murder, arson, or rape. (Black’s Law Dictionary, 9th Edition)

Mala prohibita (“prohibited evil”) – An act that is a crime solely because it is prohibited by
statute, even if the act itself is not necessarily immoral.
Example: prohibited drugs, traffic law, tax law, curfew, helmet using, and using of mask

TWO FORMS OF FELONIES

INTENTIONAL FELONIES
It is an act that is performed or the omission incurred with deliberate intent or malice to do an
injury, which means that the offender has purpose to do the crime.

Requirement of International felonies

Freedom of action- The person Don’t force to commit the crime
Example : Person A kill person B because he just don’t like it’s attitude.

Trivia:
(Person A threaten B to kill person C , and If Person B will not kill person C, He will be the one
who get killed, So as a result, person B shoot person C. The question is – does person B is liable
for killing person C?)

Intelligence- The accused must have the intelligence while doing the act or omitting the act.
Example: A person that doesn’t have any mental illness, break the car window on the mall
without any valid reason.

INTENT
CULPABLE FELONIES
An act that is not intentionally done by offender. It is just an accident and no one expecting it,
even the accused person.
Example: nawalan ng preno yung kotse mo at hinde mo napigilan ito hanggang masalpok mo
yung kasunod na Kotse at namatay ang nagmamaneho ng nito.(unintentional homicide)
-but you are still liable , because it caused injury