LAW RELATED

STUDIES
First Semester, 2021-2022
Prayer for the Day

Lord, thank you for the unique gifts You

have given us.
Fill us with fresh enthusiasm and a heart
that is excited to learn and grow. Cover
us with your enduring love, give us
confidence and grace, and equip us with
the ability to persevere through trials.
AMEN.
Pambungad na Pagbati
Pilipinas,
Ito ang bansa ko
sa akin magsisimula
ang pag-unlad at
pagbabago.
Health Reminders
Class Norms
 Module 3A- CRIMES & COMMON OFFENSES

√Take the Challenge!

In this module, challenge yourself to:

1. Define crime and its elements;
2. Classify crimes and its types;
3. Identify the classes of crimes;
4. Identify the different parties to a crime
5. Explain Burden of proof and its levels
6. Analyze the crime rate in the Philippines
 Introduction
Maj. Gen. Marni Marcos, Director of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective
Management (DIDM), said the national Total Crime Volume dropped by 39.51 percent -- from
68,214 cases in 2019 to 41,269 cases in 2020.

The eight focus crimes include murder, homicide, physical injury, robbery, theft, vehicle
theft, motorcycle theft, and rape.

The downtrend in the crime volume for the succeeding months can be attributed as
people adapted to the new normal and observed quarantine-related protocols.

Marcos said the number of index crimes decreased by 39.39 percent in 2020
compared to 2019 while there was a slight increase of non-index crimes by 1.43 percent due to
the upsurge in the occurrence of quarantine violations from March to April.

Index crimes are serious crimes such as murder, homicide, physical injury, robbery, rape, theft,
and carjacking, while the non-index crimes are violations of local ordinances and laws and
vehicular accidents. The increase was also attributed to the intensified campaign against illegal
drugs.
 Activity
A. What is a crime? Good question, but how to go about answering it? For most of us, most of the time, crime is
something other people do. So why not check that against personal experience? Have a go at the questionnaire
below, private and confidential I assure you. Estimate the total fines and prison sentences you might have under
gone had you been caught, charged and convicted of these offenses.
Table 1
Incident Offense Maximum Penalty
1 Have you ever bought goods knowing or believing they may have
been stolen?
2 Have you done cat-calling to any gender?

3 Have you ever kept money if you received too much in change?

4 Have you kept money found in the street?

5 Have you taken ‘souvenirs’ from a restaurant /hotel?

 Analysis
B. Answer the following briefly:
B.1 How can these different senses of crime be reconciled
with each other?
B.2 Have another look at the questionnaire. Does it assume a
particular way of thinking about crime?
Abstraction/Generalization
 Example.
What is a Crime? 1. Mao Urrag breaks Lampha
Sia’s arm . This is assault
causing bodily harm.
A crime is an offense against community,
punishable by the State. An illegal act which may result in
prosecution and punishment by the state.

It is a conduct forbidden by the State to which a

punishment has been attached because the conduct is
regarded by the State as being criminal” What conduct is 2. Lulu Fadd is stopped by a
criminal varies from country to country, and from one time traffic enforcer for speeding.
to another (e. g. homosexuality; marital rape criminalized by She is asked to produce her
driver’s license and registration
judicial decisions: R v R 1991)
papers but refuses. This is
obstruction of justice.
What constitutes a Crime?

In order to be convicted, the accused must be shown to have committed an

unlawful act (actus reus) with a criminal state of mind (mens rea).

Elements of a crime

ACTUS REUS + MENS REA = OFFENSE

Latin: Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea = ‘the act itself does not constitute guilt
unless done with a guilty mind’
 Process Question 1

Actus reus
In the given example on the
The physical element of a crime. It can be: preceding slide,
identify the elements of:
1. An act (e. g. theft)
a) Actus reus
2. An omission to act (e. g. willful neglect of a child) b) Mens rea
3. A state of affairs (e. g. being drunk in a public place)

Mens rea

The mental element of an offense:

1. the state of mind that the prosecution must prove that
defendant had at the time of committing a crime in order
to secure conviction;
2. intention to bring about a particular consequence, or
recklessness as to whether such consequences may
come about
Levels of intention

1. Intention
2. Subjective recklessness: the defendant knows that there is a risk of forbidden
consequence but decides to take that risk; taking an unjustifiable risk
3. Negligence; only if the defendant is under the duty of care and his behavior is
below the standard of care of a reasonable person; gross negligence – a higher
degree of negligence sufficient for manslaughter
4. Strict liability – no need to prove the intention
A crime is a wrongdoing classified by the state
or Congress as a felony or misdemeanor.

A crime is an offence against a public law. This word, in its

most general sense, includes all offenses, but in its more
limited sense is confined to felony.
The term offense may be considered as having the same
meaning, but is usually understood to be a crime not
indictable but punishable, summarily or by the forfeiture of a
penalty.
Types of Crime

A) Felony

▪ A felony is a serious crime punishable by at least one year in

prison. Some family law felonies include kidnapping and custodial
interference (in some states).People convicted of felonies lose
certain rights, such as the right to vote or hold public office. During
the term of sentence, the convicted person may also be prohibited A) Felony- Ex. Kidnapping
from making contracts, marrying, suing or keeping certain
professional licenses. Upon release from prison, the convict may
also be required to register with the police.

B) Misdemeanor

▪ A misdemeanor is a crime for which the punishment is usually a

fine and/or up to one year in a county jail. Often a crime which is a
misdemeanor for the first offense becomes a felony for repeated
offenses. All crimes that are not felonies are misdemeanors.
B)Misdemeanor-shoplifting
Crime and the Law

Crimes are defined and punished by statutes and by the common

law. Most common law offenses are as well known and as precisely
ascertained as those which are defined by statutes; yet, from the
difficulty of exactly defining and describing every act which ought to
be punished, the vital and preserving principle has been adopted; that
all immoral acts which tend to the prejudice of the community are
punishable by courts of justice.

Crimes are :

a) 'mala in se,' or bad in themselves, and these include all

offences against the moral law; or they are

b) 'mala prohibita,' bad because prohibited, as being against

sound policy which, unless prohibited, would be innocent or
indifferent.
Crimes may be classed into such as affect:
1. Religion And Public Worship:
1. Blasphemy. 2. Disturbing public worship.

2. The Sovereign Power:

1. Treason. 2. Misprision of treason.
3. The Current Coin:
1. Counterfeiting or impairing it.
4. Public justice:
1. Bribery of judges or jurors, or receiving the bribe.
2. Perjury. 10. Oppression
3. Prison breaking. 11. Extortion
4. Rescue. 12. Suppressing evidence
5. Barratry. 13. Negligence or misconduct in inferior officers
6. Maintenance. 14. Obstructing legal process
7. Champerty. 15. Embracery
8. Compounding felonies.
9. Misprision of felonies.
5. Public Peace:
1. Challenges to fight a duel.
2. Riots, routs and unlawful assemblies.
3. Affrays.
4. Libels.
6. Public Trade:
1. Cheats.
2. Forestalling.
3. Regrating.
4. Engrossing.
5. Monopolies.
7. Chastity:
1. Sodomy.
2. Adultery.
3. Incest.
4. Bigamy.
5. Fornication.
8. Decency And Morality:
1. Public indecency.
2. Drunkenness.
3. Violating the grave.
9. Public Police And Economy:
1. Common nuisances.
2. Keeping disorderly houses and bawdy houses.
3. Idleness, vagrancy, and beggary.

10. Public Policy:

1. Gambling.
2. Illegal lotteries.

11. Individuals:
1. Homicide, which is justifiable, excusable or felonious.
2. Mayhem.
3. Rape.
4. Poisoning, with intent to murder.
5. Administering drugs to a woman quick with child to cause, miscarriage.
6. Concealing death of bastard child.
7. Assault and battery, which is either simple or with intent to commit some other crime.
8. kidnapping.
9. False imprisonment.
10. Abduction
-
12. Private Property:

1. Burglary.
2. Arson.
3. Robbery.
4. Forgery.
5. Counterfeiting.
6. Larceny.
7. Receiving stolen goods, knowing them to have been stolen, or theft-bote
8. Malicious mischief.

13. The Public, Individuals, Or Their Property, According To The Intent Of The
Criminal:

1. Conspiracy.
Participation

Principal offender: directly causes the actus reus; has mens rea; can have two or more
joint principals

Innocent agent: where the principal acts through another, who is not guilty, because: no
capacity, or no mens rea, or has a defense such as insanity or automatism

Joint Offenders-when more than one person directly commit the crime

Secondary party (accessory): actus reus (aids, abets, counsels, procures the commission
of an offence); mens rea: intends to assist principal; knowledge of type of offence or
contemplation of what principal might do; liable to the same punishment as the principal
Inchoate offenses

Incomplete offences; the main offence has yet to be committed

Three types:
1. Incitement - A person who incites is one who ‘seeks to influence the mind of another to the
commission of a crime’ (S v Nkosiyana 1966)

2. Conspiracy - ‘if a person agrees with any other person or persons that a course of conduct
shall be pursued which, if the agreement is carried out in accordance with their intentions, either:
A)will necessarily amount to or involve the commission of any offense or offenses by one or
more of the parties to the agreement
B) would do so but for the existence of facts which render the commission of the offense or
any of the offences impossible, he is guilty of conspiracy to commit the offense or offences in
question

3. Attempt- If, with intent to commit an offense… a person does an act which is more than
merely preparatory to the commission of the offense, he is guilty of attempting to commit the
offense’ (Criminal Attempts Act 1981)
Burden of proof -The duty to prove a fact or
facts in issue

Defendant: presumed to be innocent until

proved guilty.

The duty of the prosecution: to prove its case

by establishing both actus reus and mens rea. It
must first satisfy the evidential burden to show
that its allegations have evidence to support
them.

Burden of proof If the prosecution has

established a basis for its case, it must continue to
satisfy the persuasive burden by proving its case
beyond reasonable doubt.
A. Direction : Correctly identify all the parties to the crime
occurring in the picture.

1 2 3
 B.Direction : Identify all the parties to the crime and their
participation.
Magno and Magna Kaw decide to burglarize Farah Alajas Pawnshop.
Their friend Mando Dohga, an employee at the pawnshop helps by telling
them the location of the pawnshop vault. Magna drives their vehicle to the
pawnshop and keeps a lookout while Magno goes inside and cracks the
safe. Magno later meets his friend May Rugup who was not involved
beforehand , May is told about the burglary and helps Magno get a van
out of town. Odah Lavut, a former classmates of Magno and Magna,
witnesses the crime but doesn’t tell the police.

Question: Which party is each person and how will they be charged?
 Crime Rates in Philippines as of September 2021
Level of Crime 43.82 Moderate
Crime increasing in the past 3 years 42.48 Moderate
Worries home broken and things stolen 46.11 Moderate
Worries being mugged or robbed 47.24 Moderate
Application

Worries car stolen 38.13 Low

Worries things from car stolen 41.18 Moderate
Worries attacked 42.33 Moderate
Worries being insulted 37.50 Low
Worries being subject to a physical attack because of your skin color, ethnic
26.96 Low
origin, gender or religion
Problem people using or dealing drugs 50.29 Moderate
Problem property crimes such as vandalism and theft 49.76 Moderate
Problem violent crimes such as assault and armed robbery 44.47 Moderate
Problem corruption and bribery 53.74 Moderate
https://www.numbeo.com/crime/country_result.jsp?country=Philippines
 a) Examine the statistical Table on the Crime Rates in the Philippines as of
September 2021, list three most alarming crime and cite possible solution
/recommendation to curve its trend.
Most alarming crime Solution/Recommendation

1.
Application

2.

3.

b) Despite the strong will of the authorities to curb criminal activities, why do you
think infraction of laws/commission of crimes persists? Explain briefly.
c) How can we reduce crime? With harsher punishments or better education?
d) Do you think the world will be safer or more dangerous in the future?
Synapse/Strengtheners

1. Do you agree? Choose 1 and discuss.

a) “ He who does not prevent a crime when he can,
encourages it”
b) “Behind every great fortune , there is a crime”
c) “ All crime is a kind of disease and should be
treated as such”
d) “ Poverty is the mother of crime”

2. Read Act No. 3815

REFERENCES
https://www.chanrobles.com/revisedpenalcodeofthephilippine
sbook1.htm#.YVBR6JpBw2w

https://nwrb.gov.ph/index.php/about/gender-
development/laws-on-women/587-the-revised-penal-codes
Paalam na Pagbati
Pilipinas,
Mahal ko ang Bayan ko!