CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING CRIMINAL LIABILITY

1. JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES - a person may not incur criminal liability

under the following circumstances:

1.1. When she/he acts in defense of his/her person or rights provided that -

a. there is an unlawful aggression on the part of the offended or injury

party.

b. there is reasonable necessity for the means employed by the person

defending himself/ herself to prevent such aggression.

c. there is lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person

defending himself.

1.2. When she/he acts in defense of the person or the rights of his/her spouse,
ascendants, descendants or legitimate or natural or adopted brothers or
sisters or relatives by affinity in the same degree, provided that the first and
second requisites prescribed in the next preceding circumstances are present
and further requisite. In the case of provocation was given by the person
attacked that the one making defense had no part therein.

1.3. When she/he acts in defense of the person or rights of a stranger provided
that the first and second requisites mentioned in the first circumstances and
that the person defending is not induced by revenge, resentment or other evil
motives.

1.4. When any person who, in order to avoid an evil or injury, does an act which
causes damage to another provided that the evil sought to be avoided
actually exists, the injury feared is greater than the done to avoid it and there
is no other practical and less harmful means to prevent it.

1.5. When he/she acts in the fulfillment of a duty or in lawful exercise of a right
or office.

Anyone who acts in defense of the person or the rights of his/her spouse does not
likewise incur any criminal liability.

Any person who acts in the fulfillment of a duty or in the lawful exercise or right
of office shall not also incur any criminal liability where such acts result in the
commission of a crime.

When a nurse in under an order from his/her superior, he/she shall be able to
discern whether the order is lawful or not, because if such order will be result in the
commission of a crime, he/she shall be criminally liable.
2. EXEMPTING CIRCUMSTANCES - there are certain circumstances under which
the law exempts a person from criminal liability for the commission of a crime. The
following persons under the circumstances stated are expressly exempted by law from
criminal liability for the crime they may committed:

a. an imbecile or an insane person unless the later has acted during a lucid
interval.

b. a person under nine years of age.

c. a person over nine years of age and under fifteen unless he/she acted with
discernment.

d. Any person who, while performing a lawful act with due care, causes an
injury which is merely an accident without fault or intention of causing it.

e. Any person who acts under the compulsion of an irresistible force.

f. Any person who acts under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal
or greater injury.

g. Any person who fails to perform an act required by law, when prevented by
some lawful or insuperable cause.

3. MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES – are those which do not constitute

justification or excuse of the offense in question, but which in fairness and mercy
may be considered as extenuating or reducing the degree of moral culpability.
Following are some of the circumstances considered by law to be mitigating and as
such lessen the criminal liability of the offenders.

a. circumstances which are otherwise justifying or exempting were it not for the
fact that all requisites necessary to justify that act or to exempt the offender
from criminal liability in the respective cases are not attendant.

b. when the offender has no intention to commit so grave a wrong as the one
committed.

c. when the offender is under 18 years of age or over 70 years old.

d. when sufficient provocation or threat on the part of the offended party

immediately precedes the act.

e. when the act is committed in the immediate vindication of a grave offense to

the one committing the felony, his/her spouse , ascendants, descendants,
 legitimate, natural or adopted brothers or sisters or relatives by affinity within
the same degree.

f. when a person acts upon an impulse so powerful as naturally to have produced

an obfuscation.

g. when the offender voluntarily surrenders himself to a person in authority or

his agents or that he/she voluntarily confesses his/her guilt before the court
prior to the presentation of the evidence for the prosecution.

h. when the defender is deaf and dumb, blind or otherwise suffering from some
physical defect which thus restricts his/her means of a action, defense or
communication with her/his fellow beings.

i. when the offender is suffering from illness as would diminish the exercise of
his/her willpower without, however depriving him/her of consciousness of
his/her acts.

4. AGGRAVATING CISCUMSTANCES - are those attending the commission of a

crime, and which increases the criminal liability of the offender or make his guilt
more severe. Some of the circumstances considered by law as aggravating the guilt of
the offender are the following:

a. When an offender takes advantage of his public position.

b. When the crime is committed in contempt of or with insult to public

authorities.

c. When the act is committed with insult or in disregard of the respect of the
offended party on account of his/her rank, age, sex, or that it is committed in
the dwelling of the offended party if the latter has not yet given provocation.

d. When the act is committed with the abuse or confidence or obvious

ungratefulness.

e. When the crime is committed in a place of worship.

f. When the crime is committed on a conflagration, shipwreck, earthquake,

epidemic or other calamity or misfortune.

g. When the crime is committed, consider a price, reward or promise.

h. When the crime is committed by means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion,

standings of a vessel or intentional damage thereto, derailment of a
locomotive, or the use of any other artifice involving great waste and ruin.
 i. When the act is committed with the evident premeditation or after an unlawful
entry.
j. When craft fraud, or disguise is employed.

k. When the wrong done in the commission of the crime is deliberately

augmented by causing other wrongs not necessary for its commission.

5. ALTERNATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES - are those which must be taken into

consideration as aggravating or mitigating according to the nature and effects of the
crime and other conditions attending its commission. These are the relationship,
intoxication and degree of instruction and education of the offender.

The alternative circumstances of relationship shall be taken into consideration

when the offended party is the spouse, ascendants, or descendants, legitimate, natural or
adopted brother or sister, or relative by affinity in the same degree of the offender.
Relationships are aggravating in physical injuries inflicted by a descendant upon
an ascendant. It is mitigating when an accused aided his/her brother in the flight against
the offended party.

The intoxication of the offender shall be taken into consideration as a mitigating

circumstance when the offender has committed a felony in a state of intoxication, if the
same is not habitual or subsequently plan to commit said felony. When the intoxication is
habitual or intentional, it shall be considered as an aggravating circumstance.

LACK OF EDUCATION IS NOT MITIGATING IN:

1. RAPE
2. FORCIBLE ABDUCTION
3. ARSON
4. TREASON
5. In crimes against chastity like seduction and acts of lasciviousness.
6. Those acts committed in a merciless or heinous manner.

POINTS TO ONSERVE IN ORDER TO AVOID CRIMINAL

LIABILITY

1. Be very familiar with the Philippine Nursing Law- guide in practicing nursing.

2. Beware of laws that affect nursing practice- ignorance of the law excuses no one.

3. At the start of employment, get a copy of your job description, the agency’s rules,
regulations and policies.

4. Upgrade your skills and competence.

5. Accept only such as responsibility that is within the scope of your employment and
your job description.
6. Do not delegate your responsibility to others.

7. Determine whether your sub ordinates are competent in the work you are assigning
them.

8. Develop good interpersonal relationships with co workers, whether they be your

supervisors, peers, or sub ordinates.

9. Consult your superiors for problems that may be too big for you to handle.

10. Verify orders that are not clear to you or those that seem to be erroneous.

11. The doctors should be informed about the patient’s conditions.

12. Keep in mind the value and necessity of keeping accurate and adequate records.

13. Patients are entitled to an informed consent

Criminal Liability:
1. Justifying Circumstances
 Anyone who acts in defense of his person or rights. A criminal liability
refers to specific situations or conditions in which a criminal act, which
would typically be considered unlawful, is legally excused or justified
based on certain legal principles or defenses. These were the you
circumstances are recognized in many legal systems as defenses that
absolve an individual from criminal liability because their actions were
deemed morally or legally justifiable under the given circumstances. Such
as Self-Defense, Defense of Others, Citizen's Arrest, and Defense of
Property.
 Those where the act of a person is said to be in accordance with the law,
so that he in the eyes of the law is considered not to have violated the law
and is therefore free from criminal and civil liabilities.

1. Exempting Circumstances
 Exempting circumstances in criminal liability refer to situations or
conditions under which a person may commit an act that would otherwise
be considered a crime but is legally excused from criminal liability due to
specific factors such as minor age, insanity, necessity, by accident and
Uncontrollable Fear.
 Are those grounds for exemption from punishment because there is
wanting/missing in the agent of the crime any of the conditions which
make the act voluntary or negligent.

1. Mitigating Circumstances
 Refer to factors or conditions that, while not justifying or excusing a
criminal act, may reduce the severity of punishment or lead to a more
 lenient sentencing for an individual who has been convicted of a crime.
These circumstances are taken into consideration by judges and legal
authorities during the sentencing phase of a criminal trial.
 Those which if present in the commission of a crime, do not entirely free
the actor from criminal liability but reduces only the penalty.

1. Aggravating Circumstances
 refer to factors or conditions that, when present in the commission of a
crime, may increase the severity of punishment or lead to a more severe
sentence for an individual who has been convicted of a crime. These
circumstances are taken into consideration by judges and legal
authorities during the sentencing phase of a criminal trial and are typically
used to justify a more severe penalty.
 Are those which if attendant in the commission of the offense, would
serve to increase the penalty?