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• Criminal Law: Defines crimes, their nature, and punishments.
• Crime: An act or omission that violates a public law.
• Felony: Acts or omissions punishable under the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
• Legal rights: Include remaining silent, having counsel, protection against torture (Sec. 12), presumption of innocence, fair trial (Sec. 14), and protection from double jeopardy/ex post facto laws (Sec. 21, 22).
• Miranda Doctrine: When arrested people must be informed of their rights.

Characteristics of Criminal Law

• Generality: Applies to all in the Philippines, with exceptions such as ambassadors.
• A U.S. citizen in the Philippines with an unlicensed firearm can be charged under R.A. 10591.
• Territoriality: Applies within Philippine territory, including ships and airspace.
• Crimes aboard a Philippine-registered ship in international waters are under Philippine jurisdiction.
• Prospectivity: Applies only to acts after enactment, unless the new law favors the accused.
• A new law that reduces penalties can be applied retroactively to ongoing cases.

Theories in Criminal Law

• Classical Theory: Emphasizes free will and retribution.
• Positivist Theory: Focuses on social and psychological factors causing crime.
• A habitual offender may receive therapy under positivist principles.

Felonies (Art. 3, RPC)

• Acts or omissions punishable under the RPC.
• Intentional Felonies are committed with deliberate intent (e.g., theft).
• Culpable Felonies result from negligence or lack of foresight (e.g., reckless driving).
• Breaking into a house to steal is intentional.
• Causing an accident due to texting is culpable.
• Mistake of Fact can absolve liability if no criminal intent exists;
• Example: Mistaking an intruder for a robber and acting in self-defense.

Stages of Crime (Art. 6, RPC)

• Attempted Stage: The crime starts but is uncompleted. An example is a thief caught picking a pocket without taking anything.
• Frustrated Stage: All acts are performed, but the crime isn't completed due to outside factors. Shooting someone intending to kill, but the person survives.
• Consummated Stage: All elements of the crime are present. An example is successfully stealing a car.

Justifying Circumstances (Art. 11, RPC)

• Self-Defense involves unlawful aggression, reasonable means to prevent harm, and no sufficient provocation.
• Defending oneself from an armed attacker.
• Defense of Relatives is protecting a family member under similar conditions.
• Avoidance of Greater Evil is preventing harm that is greater than the harm caused. Swerving a car to avoid hitting a crowd, but damaging property.

Exempting Circumstances (Art. 12, RPC)

• Insanity or mental incapacity.
• Insanity must be proven as existing at the time of the crime.
• Minority: Below 15 years is exempt from criminal liability; 15-18 years is exempt unless acting with discernment.
• A 14-year-old committing theft is exempt from criminal liability but not civil liability.
• Accident: The act must be lawful and performed with due care.

Mitigating Circumstances (Art. 13, RPC)

• Examples: Voluntary surrender, no intent to commit so grave a wrong, acting under passion.
• A person confessing guilt before the trial may receive a reduced penalty.

Aggravating Circumstances (Art. 14, RPC)

• Factors that increase the penalty.
• Examples include committing a crime at night to ensure success and using treachery in murder.
• Killing someone while they sleep increases the penalty.

Impossible Crimes (Art. 4, RPC)

• Acts intending to commit a crime but failing due to impossibility.
• Trying to steal from an empty wallet.

Absolutory Causes

• Crimes where no penalty is imposed due to public policy or sentiment.
• Examples include family members stealing from one another (Art. 332) and spontaneous stopping, called "desistance," before completing a crime.
• A person planning theft but voluntarily stops before taking anything.

Conspiracy and Proposal (Art. 8, RPC)

• Conspiracy: Agreement among two or more to commit a crime; example: planning a bank robbery.
• Proposal: Suggesting a crime to another person; example: convincing someone to commit fraud.

Classification of Felonies (Art. 9, RPC)

• Grave Felonies: Punishable by severe penalties (e.g., reclusion perpetua); example: murder.
• Less Grave Felonies: Punishable by correctional penalties; example: theft of small amounts.
• Light Felonies: Punishable by arresto menor or fines; example: slight physical injuries.

Additional Examples of Criminal Liability (Art. 4, RPC)

• Error in Personae (Mistake in Identity): Hitting someone you thought was the intended victim.
• Aberratio Ictus (Mistake in the Blow): Shooting at someone but hitting another person nearby.
• Praeter Intentionem (Result Beyond Intent): Pushing someone who accidentally hits their head and dies.

Key Legal Doctrines

• Nullum Crimen, Nulla Poena Sine Lege: No crime without law.
• Actus Non Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Rea: An act does not make a person guilty unless done with a guilty mind.
• Accidentally breaking someone's property without intent does not constitute a crime.

Defense of Strangers (Art. 11, Paragraph 3)

• Requisites include unlawful aggression, reasonable necessity of the means employed, and no evil motives.
• Strangers are any person not included in the enumeration of relatives in the defense of relatives.
• An example is helping a stranger fend off a violent attacker in a public place.

Avoidance of Greater Evil or Injury (Art. 11, Paragraph 4)

• Requisites: Evil sought to be avoided must actually exist; injury feared must be greater than that done; no other practical and less harmful means exist.
• Civil Liability: In this case, civil liability is borne by the persons benefiting from the act.
• Destroying property to prevent a wildfire from spreading to a residential area.

Fulfillment of Duty or Lawful Exercise of Right or Office (Art. 11, Paragraph 5)

• Requisites: Accused acted in the performance of a duty or lawful exercise of right, and the injury was a necessary consequence.
• A police officer causing harm while stopping an armed criminal during a robbery.

Exempting Circumstances (Art. 12)

• Insanity and Imbecility: An imbecile (mental age of 2-7 years) is exempt unless acting in a lucid interval.
• A person suffering from schizophrenia committing a crime during a psychotic episode.
• Minority:
• Below 15 years: Exempt from criminal liability.
• 15-18 years: Exempt unless acting with discernment. A 16-year-old stealing out of necessity without understanding consequences.
• Accident: The act must be lawful and performed with due care.

Mitigating Circumstances (Art. 13)

• Examples: Acting with no intent to commit so grave a wrong, voluntary surrender, provocation by the offended party immediately preceding the crime.
• The offender acted upon an impulse so powerful that it naturally produced the crime.
• A parent attacking someone who just harmed their child.

Aggravating Circumstances (Art. 14)

• Examples:
• Premeditation: Planning the crime ahead of time.
• Treachery: Ensuring the crime is committed without risk to the offender.
• Use of a superior force.
• Stabbing someone from behind in an unprovoked attack.

Impossible Crimes (Art. 4, Paragraph 2)

• Acts that would constitute a crime but cannot be carried out due to inherent impossibility and inadequate/ineffective means.
• Attempting to poison someone using a harmless substance, believing it to be lethal.

Conspiracy and Proposal (Art. 8)

• Conspiracy: Agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime; all conspirators are liable.
• Proposal: A person decides to commit a crime and proposes its execution to another.
• Two people agreeing to rob a bank and executing the plan is conspiracy. Suggesting to a friend to join in a theft is proposal.

Absolutory Causes

• Definition: Acts that are technically crimes but are not punishable due to public policy or sentiment;
• Examples: spontaneous desistance and family members involved in theft.
• A sibling taking food from another sibling's home without permission is an example.

Article 11: Justifying Circumstances

• These are situations where a person is deemed to have acted lawfully, and no criminal or civil liability arises.
• Requisites involve unlawful aggression by the victim, the use of reasonable means, no sufficient provocation
• A driver swerves onto the sidewalk to avoid hitting a group of children crossing the street.

Obedience to a Lawful Order Requisites

• The order is lawful.
• The means used to follow the order are lawful.
• An example is a soldier follows orders to guard a building and detains an intruder.

Article 12: Exempting Circumstances

• These are conditions where a crime is committed, but the individual is exempt from criminal liability.
• Insanity or Imbecility: Insanity must exist at the time of the crime.
• Minority: A child below 15 years is exempt.
• Accident Without Fault: The act must be lawful, with due care, and unintentional injury.
• Irresistible Force (Violence): The individual is physically forced to commit the act.
• Uncontrollable Fear (Threat and Intimidation): The fear must be real, imminent, and leave no room for resistance. A person robs a store under threat of immediate harm .
• Lawful or Insuperable Cause: The individual cannot fulfill a legal duty due to lawful reasons.

Article 13: Mitigating Circumstances

• Factors that reduce the penalty because they diminish the offender's responsibility. Not all requisites of Articles 11 or 12 are met. Examples:
• Acting with no intent to commit so grave a wrong.
• Voluntary surrender to authorities.
• The condition limits the offender's capability to act or reason.

Accessory

• Someone who assists the criminal AFTER the crime to avoid punishment.
• Conspirators take part in planning and executing a crime.
• Accessories do something after, the crime has already been planned
• Some accessories are not punished if related to the criminal, except for serious crimes.

Accessory Relatives Who Are Still Liable

• Treason
• Parricide
• Murder
• Crimes against national security

ISLAW

• Encourages rehabilitation by setting a minimum and maximum sentences.

Special Penal Laws

• If the convicted person cannot pay the fine, they will serve a subsidiary imprisonment instead.
• Courts can substitute jail time with community service for those who are charged for a minor traffic violations.

How to determine sentence in the Philippines

• Penalities depend on if the crime was capital, correctional, or light.
• Alternative circumstances affect Penalties depending on the case.
• These circumstances affect how the judge determines the appropriate sentence within the minimum, medium, or maximum period prescribed for the crime.