Title Two

PERSONS CRIMINALLY LIABLE FOR FELONIES

Article 16. Who are criminally liable. - The following are criminally liable for grave and less grave
felonies:

1. Principals.

2. Accomplices.

3. Accessories.

The following are criminally liable for light felonies:

1. Principals

2. Accomplices.

Article 17. Principals. - The following are considered principals:

1. Those who take a direct part in the execution of the act;

2. Those who directly force or induce others to commit it;

3. Those who cooperate in the commission of the offense by another act without which it
would not have been accomplished.

Article 18. Accomplices. - Accomplices are those persons who, not being included in Article 17,
cooperate in the execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous acts.

Article 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 principals 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.

Article 20. Accessories who are exempt from criminal liability. - The penalties prescribed for
accessories shall not be imposed upon those who are such with respect to their spouses,
ascendants, descendants, legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers and sisters, or relatives by
affinity within the same degrees, with the single exception of accessories falling within the provisions
of paragraph 1 of the next preceding article.
Title Three
PENALTIES

Chapter One
PENALTIES IN GENERAL

Article 21. Penalties that may be imposed. - No felony shall be punishable by any penalty not
prescribed by law prior to its commission.

Article 22. Retroactive effect of penal laws. - Penal Laws shall have a retroactive effect insofar as
they favor the persons guilty of a felony, who is not a habitual criminal, as this term is defined in Rule
5 of Article 62 of this Code, although at the time of the publication of such laws a final sentence has
been pronounced and the convict is serving the same.

Article 23. Effect of pardon by the offended party. - A pardon of the offended party does not
extinguish criminal action except as provided in Article 344 of this Code; but civil liability with regard
to the interest of the injured party is extinguished by his express waiver.

Article 24. Measures of prevention or safety which are nor 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 Article 80 and for the
purposes specified therein.

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

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

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