CRIMINAL LAW 2 REVIEWER: FINALS

1. Rules for the application of penalties which contain three (3) periods.

* a. No aggravating and no mitigating medium period.

b. One mitigating minimum period

c. One aggravating maximum period

d. Mitigating and aggravating circumstances present to offset each other according to relative weight.

e. Two or more mitigating and no aggravating one degree lower. The penalty will be in the period that it may deem applicable, according to number and nature of such circumstance.

f. Any number of aggravating circumstances penalty cannot exceed penalty provided by law in its maximum period.

g. Court determines extent of penalty within the limits of each period according to:

(1) number of aggravating and mitigating circumstances; and (2) greater or lesser extent of evil produced by the crime.

h. The penalty to be imposed upon an accused who is a Muslim inhabitant of Mindanao, irrespective of the attending circumstances lies in the discretion of the

trial court pursuant to Sec.106 of the Administrative Code. Accused who are nonChristians are entitled to special treatment under the same Code.

2. Exception to the rules of application in Art.64.

* Art.64 applies to divisible penalties only.

* Art.64 does not apply to: (1) indivisible penalties; (2) penalties prescribed by special laws; (3) fines; and (4) crimes committed by negligence.

3. What is the effect in giving credit to four (4) aggravating circumstances?

* Paragraph 6 of Art.64 provides that whatever number and nature of the aggravating circumstances, the courts shall not impose a greater penalty than that prescribed by law, in its maximum period.

4. Is negligence or reckless imprudence considered to aggravate a crime in the imposition of penalty?

* No, they are not considered. The rules for the application of penalties prescribed by Art.64 are not applicable to a case of reckless imprudence.

5. Why is the means in the commission of an offense a determining factor in imposing a fine as a penalty?

* Means are emphasized because a fixed amount of a fine for all offenders of a particular crime will result in an inequality. P100 to a rich man is nothing but certainly something to a poor man. Obviously, to impose the same amount of a fine for the same offense upon two persons thus differently circumstanced would be to mete out to them a penalty of unequal severity; hence, unjustly discriminatory.

6. If the law does not specify the specific fine to be imposed, how will you determine the fine?

* If the law imposing the fine does not fix the minimum, the determination of the fine is left to the sound discretion of the Court, provided that it shall not exceed the authorized maximum.

7. RA9344 (Youthful Offenders): a. what is the effect if the youthful offender acted with discernment?

* Under RA No. 9344, the youthful offender shall not be exempt from criminal liability and he shall undergo a diversion program.

b. if he acted without discernment?

* Under RA No. 9344, he is exempted from criminal responsibility and liability.

c. what if the youthful offender fails to comply with the rehabilitation or diversion program?

* If the court later finds that the objective of the diversion measures imposed has not been fulfilled, or if the child in conflict with the law wilfully failed to comply with the conditions laid down in the diversion or rehabilitation program, the offender shall be brought before the court for the execution of the judgment. The penalty next lower

than that provided by law shall be imposed upon the offender, as provided under paragraph 2 of Art.68.

d. what do you mean by simultaneous service?

* The culprit has to serve two or more penalties, and he shall serve them simultaneously if the nature of the penalties will so permit.

e. How about successively?

* When the convict was sentenced to imprisonment for one offense and was sentenced to imprisonment for another offense, he should serve the two terms successively and the time of the second sentence did not commence to run until the expiration of the first.

10. What do you mean by totality rule?

* Total of all the penalties not exceeding forty (40) years. Totality' is only considered when a person is due to be sentenced for two or more associated' offences and the Court looks at what the overall sentence should be for that act. The Court is passing a sentence to reflect the overall criminal act. The total sentence could then be broken down to concurrent and consecutive sentences.

11. What do you mean by three-fold rule?

* It applies although the penalties were imposed for different crimes at different times and under separate information. Under this rule, after the prisoner has served the highest penalty, he still has to serve the payment of indemnities with or without subsidiary imprisonment provided that the principal penalty cannot pay the fine, he still has to serve the subsidiary imprisonment as long as the principal penalty does not

exceed 6 years. If an indeterminate sentence is imposed, the basis of this rule is the maximum. It is when the maximum duration of the convicts sentence that shall not be more than three times (3x) the length of time corresponding to the most severe of the penalties imposed upon him. Three-fold rule applies only when the convict has to serve at least four (4) sentences; if only two or three penalties corresponding to different crimes committed by the convict are imposed, three-fold rule is hardly possible to apply.

12. What is the effect in the elimination of death in imposing death penalty?

* Death has the effect of appropriately downgrading the proper penalties attaching to accomplices, accessories, frustrated and attempted felonies to the level consistent with the rest of our penal laws. RA NO. 9346 unequivocally bars the application of the death penalty, as well as expressly repeals all such statutory provisions requiring the application of the death penalty; such effect necessarily extends to its relevance to the graduated scale of penalties. Death shall no longer form part of the equation in the graduation of penalties.

13. What is the purpose in imposing death penalty?

* Death penalty is imposed in order for the criminals to be responsible of their terrible behaviours, to enhance the determination of the government to deter crimes, to give the public a sense of security because criminals coming back to the society increase the panic of the public and to maintain its stability.

14. What is the practical necessity in imposing multiple death penalties?

* The nature of said penal sanctions does not only permit but actually necessitates simultaneous service. Sentencing an accused to several capital penalties is an edible badge of his extreme criminal perversity, which may not be accurately projected by the imposition of only one death sentence irrespective of the number of capital felonies for which he is liable. The imposition of multiple death penalties could effectively serve as a deterrent to an improvident grant of pardon or commutation.

15. What is/are the civil liability/liabilities of a person guilty of two (2) or more offenses?

* Art.72 applies when the offender who is found guilty of two (2) or more offenses is required to pay the corresponding civil liabilities resulting from different offenses. Civil liability is satisfied by following the chronological order of the dates of the final judgments.

16. What happens if those accessory penalties are not expressly mentioned by law?

* Accessory penalties are deemed imposed by the courts without the necessity of making an express pronouncement of their imposition. It must be understood as also imposed upon the convict in all cases whenever the court shall impose a penalty which carries with it other penalties.

17. Is subsidiary imprisonment considered as penalty?

* Subsidiary imprisonment is not considered an accessory penalty and therefore, the judgment of conviction must expressly state that the offender shall suffer the subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.

18. What are the rules to be observed in increasing and decreasing of penalties of five (5) by one 1 or two 2 degrees?

* a. It is increased or reduced for each degree by of the maximum amount without changing the minimum.

b. Same rule applies if the fine is not of a fixed amount but is made proportionally.

c. Art.75 applies to fines wherein the law prescribes the minimum as well as the maximum, the court cannot impose a fine next higher. The amount of fine will depend upon the discretion of the Court.

d. In reducing the penalty by one or two degrees, the basis for the reduction of the first as well as the second degree must necessarily be the penalty prescribed by law for the consummated felony.

e. Reducing fine is necessary because the penalty has to be lowered by 1 or 2 degrees. In determining the amount of the reduced fine, a distinction should be made between cases where the minimum is not fixed by law.

19. What is the rule in determining the amount of fine when the law does not fix the minimum but only the maximum?

* When only the maximum of the fine is fixed, the determination of the amount to be imposed is left to the sound discretion of the courts, without exceeding the maximum authorized by law.

20. Difference between a fine with a minimum and a fine without a minimum.

* a. In both, the law fixes the maximum of the fine.

b. When the law fixes the minimum of the fine, the court cannot change that minimum; whereas, when the law does not state the minimum of the fine but only the maximum, the court can impose any exceeding such maximum.

c. When the law fixes both the minimum and the maximum, the court can impose an amount higher than the maximum; whereas, when only the maximum is fixed, it cannot impose an amount higher than the maximum.

21. What is the rule in reducing a fine by 2 degrees?

* In reducing the penalty of fine by two degrees, the basis for the reduction must necessarily be the penalty prescribed by law for the consummated felony.

22. What is the rule for complex penalties?

* The penalty prescribed by law is composed of three (3) distinct penalties, each forming a period; the lightest of them all shall be the minimum, the next the medium, and the most severe the maximum period.

23. Distinguish periods and degrees.

* Period is each of the three (3) equal parts of a divisible penalty and degree is the diverse penalties mentioned by name in the Revised Penal Code.

B. TRUE OR FALSE

Art. 72 114