THE FOUR FORMS OF REPETITION

1. Recidivism (Paragraph 9, Article 14, RPC)

2. Reiteracion or habituality (Paragraph 10, Article 14, RPC)
3. Habitual delinquency or multi-recidivism (Paragraph 5, Article 62, RPC)
4. Quasi-recidivism (Article 160, RPC)

 RECIDIVISM – The offender at the time of his trial for one crime shall have been previously
convicted by final judgment of another crime embraced in the same title of the Revised Penal
Code. This is a generic aggravating circumstance.

Example: X was prosecuted for and convicted of robbery on May 15, 2000. The judgment
became final there being no appeal filed on or before May 31, 2000. During the pendency of the
robbery case, X was also charged with the crime of theft and the decision convicting him of said
crime was rendered on June 15, 2000. X is considered as a recidivist because the two crimes of
robber and theft are embraced in the same title of this Code.

 REITERACION OR HABITUALITY – The offender has been previously punished for an offense to
which the law attaches an equal or greater penalty or for two or more crimes to which it attaches a
lighter penalty. This is a generic aggravating circumstance.

Example: B served sentence for forcible abduction (Art. 324) punishable by reclusion
temporal, that is from 12 years and 1 day to 20 years. Later, after B was released from prison, he
committed homicide (Art. 249) punishable also by reclusion temporal. In fixing the penalty for
homicide, the court will have to consider the aggravating circumstance of habituality against B.

Example: C served 30 days imprisonment for theft; later, he served 2 months for estafa;
now he is tried for homicide which is punishable with reclusion temporal, that is, 12 years and 1 day
to 20 years. Note that for the previous two offenses, the law provides lesser penalties.

 HABITUAL DELINQUENCY – The offender within a period of 10 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 of said crimes a third time or oftener. This is an extraordinary
aggravating circumstance.

Example: Supposed, Y has the following criminal records:

Felony Date of Commission Date of Conviction Date of Release

Theft August 1994 April 1995 Sept 1995
Estafa November 2000 April 2003 April 2005
Robbery July 2008 April 2009

In this case, Y is a habitual delinquent. He will be sentenced to the penalty provided by law
for the last crime of which he was found guilty and an added penalty will be imposed in accordance
with Article 62 of the RPC.

 QUASI-RECIDIVISM – Any person who shall commit a felony after having convicted by final
judgment before beginning to serve such sentence or while serving such sentence shall be punished
by the maximum period prescribed by law for the new felony. This is a special aggravating
circumstance.

Example: While X was serving sentence in jail, he stabbed to death another prisoner. X
committed the second crime while serving the sentence by final judgment for the first crime he was
convicted, hence the second crime was committed with the attending aggravating circumstance of
quasi-recidivism.