CRIMINAL LAW & JURISPRUDENCE

INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

CHAPTER 1
Terminologies
Criminology
Body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon.
It includes within the scope the process of making laws, breaking laws and
the society’s reaction towards the breaking of the law.

Crime
General Sense
Act punishable by public law, committed and/or omitted by a competent
person intentionally and/or voluntarily.
Criminal-The main character of the Criminal Justice System
Criminal-A person who committed a crime regardless whether reported or
referred.
Criminal- A person who was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Nomenclatures
• At the Police stage - SUSPECT
• At the Prosecutor's Office - ACCUSED
• At the trial of the case in court - DEFENDANT
• At the Correctional Institution – CONVICT/CRIMINAL/PDL
• After serving sentence, brought back to community
Justice- The act of rendering what are due and treating persons equally.
These persons must, however, fall within the same classification. (Gacayan,
2006)
Justice- giving someone what is due to him.
-being fair and just.
Essence of Justice under the Philippine Constitution

Sec. 1 , Art. III of the 1 987 Constitution

No person shall be deprived of life,
liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall a person be deprived
of the equal protection of law.

Sec. 1 , Art. III of the 1 987 Constitution

• This guarantee dictates that in order that justice will be realized there
must be the observance of due process.
• Due process is a guaranty against any arbitrariness on the part of the
government, whether committed by the legislative, executive or the
judiciary.
Kinds of Due Process
• Procedural due process – is one which hears before it condemns which
proceeds upon inquiry and renders judgment only after trial.
• Substantive Due Process – this requires the intrinsic validity of the law
in interfering with the rights of the person to his life, liberty or
property.

Mistakes in administering justice

• Innocent is punished
• Guilty escapes the punishment
• Guilty are punished more severe than necessary
• Guilty are punished less severe than necessary

Two-fold role of justice

• Prevention of Crime
• Apprehension and delivery of justice to Criminal and the State
Criminal Law-Branch of public law, which defines crimes, treats of their nature,
and provides for their punishment.

CHAPTER 2
Basic Concepts of Criminal Justice
Criminal Justice System-refers to the sum total of instrumentation which a
society uses in the prevention and control of crime and delinquency.
Criminal Justice System- refers to the machinery of the state or government
which enforces the rules of conduct necessary to protect life and property and to
maintain peace and order.

Philosophies behind the CJS

• Adversarial Approach
◦ assumes innocence
◦ the prosecutor has the burden of proof
◦ the emphasis is given on the proper procedures
• Inquisitorial Approach
◦ assumes guilt
◦ the accused has the burden of proof
◦ the emphasis is on the conviction of the accused

In theory, Criminal Justice System is an integrated apparatus that is concerned

with the following;
• apprehension,
• prosecution,
• trial,
 • conviction,
• sentencing and
• rehabilitating or correcting criminal offenders.

Goal of CJS
1. Prevention of crime.
2. Protect members of society against crime.
3. Maintain peace and order.
4. Suppression of criminality.
5. Review the legality of existing rules and regulations.
6. Rehabilitation and reformation of offenders.

People involved in the system (Parties to the criminal case)

1. Accused = The most pampered party in a criminal case.
2. Victim/complainant = The forgotten party in a criminal case.
3. People of the Philippines = The actual offended party.

The Concept of Criminal Justice System

The Processing Stages of the Criminal Justice System

We may say that there are five stages in the Philippine criminal justice
process, namely: (1) arrest stage (2) charging stage (3) adjudication stage
(4) sentencing (5) corrections. as the flowchart makes clear, the criminal
justice process begins with the commission of a crime. Actually, it is more
accurate to say that it begins with the detection of crime. If a crime is
undetected or unreported, it obviously does not enter the system.
Subsequent to crime commission it is moreover the accused is unknown or
the accused is immediately apprehended.

Arrest Stage
Under this stage there are two distinct sequences of steps which follow
detection. The first is police observation-arrest-booking-investigation. When
the police witness actual crime in progress and are able to apprehend the
offender, arrest is usually immediate. The suspect is taken and brought into
the city or municipal jail. This procedure involves such things as
fingerprinting, identification check, and reading of the rights and charges. An
investigation follows for the purpose of developing prosecutable case against
the case against the suspect. The second sequences of steps is the
complaint-investigation-arrest booking. It is the most common way in which
witness or victim brings crime to the attention of those in the criminal
justice, and an investigation is normally the next step. Unlike the
investigation following police observation, this investigation is aimed more at
the determination of whether a crime has actually been committed and, if so,
the identification of the offender(s). If enough evidence is obtained and
police have probable cause to believe a specific person is the culprit, an
arrest made and the person is brought into a jail.

Charging Stage
Police output in the form of an arrested suspect becomes input into the
charging stage. The first step is generally the screening of the case, in order
to establish probable cause in deciding whether to reject the case or to file
case in court. In case of rejection, the prosecutor notifies the court that the
case is formally dropped. If the option is filing the case, information should
be filed with the court formally charging the accused with specific crimes.

Adjudication Stage
The input triggering this stage does the prosecutor submit the information or
indictment. These are the instruments through which formal charges are
filed against the accused. Each charge is read to the defendant at a
proceeding known as arraignment. There should be first an arraignment to
have jurisdiction over the case. In addition to the reading of the charges,
there are determination that the defendant has an attorney and the taking of
the plea. During arraignment, a person may plead guilty or not guilty. If
guilty is entered, the defendant awaits sentencing. A not guilty plea at
arraignment results in a trial. At the end of the trial, the judge may either
acquit the defendant or render a verdict of guilty. Once the accused is
already arraigned, the case cannot be re-filed for it will be double jeopardy.
In any case, the final judgement is the final output of the adjudication stage.

Sentencing Stage
A conviction becomes the input of the fourth stage: sentencing. with
sentencing, the judge has played a very important, but secondary, role and
exercises full discretion since the law usually places full responsibility for
sentencing judge’s hand. The sentence becomes the input of the corrections
stage except in the cases of fines or suspended sentences.

Corrections Stage
The correction stage involves, of course, the convicted person’s serving of
the sentence imposed. During the corrections stage another process of
importance may be going on- appeal of court rulings.

In relation to sentencing stage, it is important to know that there is a period

of imprisonment, every period has a DEGREE known as a whole penalty, for
example in Reclusion Perpetua, the degree of RP is 20 yrs. and 1 day to 40
yrs. Each degree is divisible with three periods known as Minimum, Medium
and Maximum. In this part, we will talk focus on the computation on how we
can get the three periods in each degree.
Period of Imprisonment:

Reclusion Perpetua – 20 years and 1 day – 40 years

Reclusion Temporal – 12 years and 1 day – 20 years
Prision Mayor – 6 years and 1 day – 12 years
Prision Correccional – 6 months and 1 day – 6 years
Arresto Mayor – 1 month and 1 day – 6 months
Arresto Menor – 1 day – 30 days

GUIDE TO COMPUTE AND GET THE 3 PERIOD OF ONE WHOLE DEGREE

For example we will about to get the Mimimum, Medium and Maximum of
Reclusion Perpetua. The reclusion perpetua has a whole degree of 20 years
and 1 day to 40 years.get the highest year and subtract in to the lowest
year: 40 year – 20 year = 20 years the answer will be divided into three 20
years divide 3 = 6 yrs. and 8 months. Add the answer to the lowest year to
get the minimum period20 years + 6 years and 8 months = 26 years and 8
months, so the minimum of RP is 20 years and 1 day – 26 years and 8
months.
Add the answer to get the medium period, 26 years and 8 months + 6 years
and 8 months = 33 years and 4 months, so the medium of RP is 20 years
and 1 day – 33 years and 4 months. Add the answer to get the maximum
period, 33 years and 4 months + 6 years and 8 months = 40 years. , so it is
very obvious that the maximum period of RP is 20 years and 1 day to 40
years.