Lecture on
Crime: The Social Phenomenon
by
Manuel L. Pontanal
“Learn as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.”
Atty. Mahatma Gandhi
Crime is an act committed or omitted in violation of
a public law forbidding or commanding it.
(Bouvier’s Law
Dictionary, Rawle’s third revision, 729).
Criminal Law is that branch or division of law
which defines crimes, treats of their nature, and provides
for their punishment
(12 Cyc. 129).
Social Phenomenon include all behavior which
influences or is influenced by organisms sufficiently alive
to
respond
to
one
another.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_phenomena)
CRIMINAL LAW AND THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF
CRIME

Criminal law dictates what constitutes a crime and
how criminal acts are defined.
Today’s criminal law
incorporates historical traditions, moral beliefs, and
social values, as well as political and economic
developments and conditions.

Criminal law is a living concept, constantly changing
to keep pace with society.
Two Theories in Criminal Law
Classical Theory
1. the basis of criminal liability is human free will and the purpose of the
penalty is retribution.
2. that man is essentially a moral creature with an absolutely free will to
choose between good and evil, thereby placing more stress upon the
effect or result of felonious act than upon the man, the criminal himself.
3.
it has endeavored to establish a mechanical and direct proportion
between crime and penalty.
4. there is a scant regard to the human element.
by the Code Commission on
Code of Crimes)
(Basic Principles, Rationale, p.2.
Positivist Theory
1.
That man is subdued occasionally by a strange and morbid
phenomenon which constrains him to do wrong, in spite of or
contrary to this volition.
2.
That crime is essentially a social and natural phenomenon, and as
such, it cannot be treated and checked by the application of
abstract principles of law and jurisprudence nor by the imposition
of a punishment, fixed and determined a priori; but rather through
the enforcement of individual measures in each particular case
after a thorough, personal and individual investigation conducted
by a competent body of psychiatrists and social scientists.
FUNCTIONS OF CRIMINAL LAW
(1)
Enforcing Social Control – The primary purpose of
criminal law is to control the behavior of people within its
jurisdiction.
Criminal law is a written statement of rules to which people
must conform – the universally followed behavior is referred to as
the mores or serious norms
The folkways are the unwritten rules of conduct, such as
customs and conventions
Those in political power rely on criminal law to formally prohibit
behaviors believed to either threaten societal well-being or
challenge their own authority.
(2) Deterring Criminal Behavior – criminal law has a
social control function to control, restrain, and direct human
behavior through its ability to punish and correct law
violations.
The threat of punishment associated with violating the
law is designed to prevent crimes before they occur.
(3) Maintaining Social Order – all legal systems are
designed to support and maintain the boundaries of the social
system they serve.
(4)
Discouraging
Revenge
–
By
delegating
enforcement to others, criminal law controls an individual’s
need to seek revenge or vengeance against those who
violated his or her rights.
(5) Expressing Public Opinion and Morality –
criminal law reflects constantly changing public opinions and
moral values. Criminal law has the power to define the
boundaries of moral and immoral behavior has proven difficult
to legally control public morality because of the problems
associated with gauging the will of the majority; respecting
the rights of the minority; and enforcing laws that many
people consider trivial or self-serving.
(6) Punishing Wrongdoing – the deterrent power
of criminal law is tied to the authority it gives the state
to sanction or punish offenders.
Those violating mores and folkways can receive
social disapproval, whereas criminal law violators are
subject to physical coercion and punishment.
Criminal law is society’s instrument of punishment; it
serves as a measure of the public’s idea of right and
wrong.
Power to Define and Punish Crimes
• The state has the authority, under its police power, define and
punish crimes and to lay down the rules of criminal procedure.
States, as apart of their police power, have a large measure of
discretion in creating and defining criminal offenses. (People vs.
Santiago, 43 Phil. 120)
• The right of prosecution and punishment for a crime is one of the
attributes that by a natural law belongs to the sovereign power
instinctively charged by the common will of the members of
society to look after, guard and defend the interests of the
community, the individual and social rights and liberties of every
citizen and the guaranty of the exercise of his rights. (U.s. vs.
Pablo, 35 Phil.94)
(The Revised Penal Code –Criminal Law by Luis B. Reyes)
Limitations on the Power of the Lawmaking Body to
Enact Penal Legislation
The Bill of rights of the 1987 Constitution imposes the
following limitations:
1. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be
enacted. (Art. III, Sec. 22)
2.
No person shall be held to answer for a
criminal offense without due process of law.(Art.
III, Sec. 14 [1])
• The first limitation prohibits the passage of retroactive
laws which are prejudicial to the accused.
• The second limitation requires that criminal laws must
be of general application and must clearly define the
acts and omissions punished as crimes.
• Congress is also prohibited from passing an act which
would inflict punishment without judicial trial, for that
would constitute a bill of attainder. Its essence is the
substitution of a legislative act for a judicial
determination of guilt. (People vs. Ferrer, 48 SCRA, 382)
(The Revised Penal Code –Criminal Law by Luis B.
Reyes)
Ex Post Facto Law
An ex post facto law is one which:
1.
makes criminal an act done before the passage of
the law and which was innocent when done, and
punishes such an act;
2.
aggravates a crime, or make it greater than it was,
when committed;
3.
changes the punishment and inflicts a greater
punishment than the law annexed to the crime
when committed;
4.
alters the legal rules of evidence, and authorizes
conviction upon less or different testimony than the
law required at the time of the offense.
5. assumes to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in
effect imposes penalty of deprivation of a right for
something which when done was lawful; and
6. deprives a person accused of a crime some lawful
protection to which he has become entitled, such as
the protection of a former conviction or acquittal, or
a proclamation of amnesty. (In re: Kay villegas Kami
Inc., 35 SCRA 429)
(The Revised Penal Code –Criminal Law by Luis B. Reyes)
Characteristics of Criminal Law
Criminal law has three main characteristics: (1) general, (2)
territorial, and (3) prospective.
 General, in that criminal law is binding on all persons
who live or sojourn in Philippine territory. (Art. 14, New
Civil Code)
 Territorial, in that criminal laws undertake to punish
crimes committed within the Philippine territory.
 Prospective, in that a penal law cannot make an act
punishable when committed in a manner in which it was
not punishable when committed. (The Revised Penal Code –Criminal
Law by Luis B. Reyes)
Three (3) Classes of Crimes
In the Philippines, there three (3) classes of crimes.
The Revised penal Code penalizes the first two classes of
crimes, (1) intentional felonies, and (2) the culpable
felonies. The third class of crimes are those (3) defined
and penalized by
special laws which include the
municipal or city ordinances.
Crimes Penalized by the Revised Penal Code
Acts or omissions punishable by law
are felonies
(delitos).
Felonies are
committed
not only by means of
deceit (dolo) but also by means of fault (culpa).
There is is deceit when the act is performed with
deliberate intent; there is fault when the wrongful act
act results from imprudence , negligence, lack of
foresight, or lack of skill (Article 3, RPC).
Elements of felonies
1. There must be an act or omission.
2. The act or omission must be punishable by
the Revised penal Code.
3. The act is performed or the omission is
incurred by means of deceit or fault.
Classification of Felonies according to the Means by
which they are Committed
(1) “Intentional felonies”, the act or omission of the offender is
malicious. The act is performed with deliberate intent. The offender in
performing the act or in incurring the omission, has the intention
cause an injury to another.
(2) “Culpable felonies”, the act or omission of the offender is not
malicious. The injury caused by the offender to another person is
“unintentional”, it being simply the incident of another act performed
without malice. (People vs. Sara, 55 Phil. 939) As stated in Art. The
wrongful act results from imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight or
lack of skill.
(The Revised Penal Code –Criminal Law by Luis B. Reyes)
Requisites of Malice
In order that the act or omission may be considered as having been
performed or incurred with deliberate intent, the requisites must concur:
1.
He must have FREEDOM while doing the act or omitting the to do an
act. When a person acts without freedom, he is no longer a human
being but a tool.
Thus, a person who acts under the compulsion of an irresistible force
is exempt from criminal liability. (Art. 12, par. 5). So, also, a person who
acts under the impulse of uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater
injury is exempt from criminal liability. (Art. 12, par. 6)
2. He must have INTELLIGENCE while doing the act or omitting to do
the act. Without this power, necessary to determine the morality of
human acts, no crime can exist. Thus, the imbecile or the insane,
and a child fifteen (15) years old and below, have no criminal
liability. (Art. 12, pars. 1,2).
3.
He must have INTENT while doing the act or omitting to do an
act. Intent to commit the act with malice, being purely a mental
process, is presumed and the presumption arises from the proof of
the commission of an unlawful act.
All the three requisites of voluntariness in intentional felony must
be present, because “ a voluntary act is free, intelligent, and
intentional act.” (U.S. vs. Ah Chong, 15 Phil. 488)
Intent is not required in Crimes Punished by Special
Laws
• Crime punished by a special law, as a general rule, intent to
commit is not necessary. It is sufficient that the offender has the
intent to perpetrate the act prohibited by the special law.
• Intent to commit the crime and intent to perpetrate the act must
be distinguished. A person may not have consciously intended to
commit a crime; but he did intend to commit an act, and that act
is, by the very nature of things, the crime itself. (U.S. vs. Go
Chico, 14 Phil. 128)
• In the first (intent to commit the crime), there must be criminal
intent; in the second 9intent to perpetrate the act), it is enough
that the prohibited act is done free and consciously. (The Revised
Penal Code –Criminal Law by Luis B. Reyes)
Meaning of Words and Phrases
• “act” must be understood any bodily
movement tending to produce some effect in
the external world, it being unnecessary that
the same be actually produced, as the
possibility of its production is sufficient.
• “omission” is an inaction, the failure to
perform a positive duty which one is bound to
do. There must be a law requiring the doing or
performance of an act.
• “Punishable
by law” is based on the maxim that
there is no crime where there is no law punishing it.
The phrase “punished by law “ should be understood to
mean” punished by the “Revised Penal Code” and not by
a special law. That is to say the term “felony” means
the acts and omissions punished by the Revised penal
code, to distinguish it from the words “crime” and
“offense” which are applied to infractions of the law
punished by a special statutes.
• “Imprudence” indicates deficiency of action. If a
person fails to take the necessary precaution to avoid
injury to person or damage to property, there is
imprudence. Imprudence involves lack of skill.
• “Negligence” indicates a deficiency of perception. If a
person fails to pay proper attention and to use due
diligence in foreseeing the injury or damage impending
to be caused, there is negligence. Negligence usually
involves lack of foresight.
Citation:
The Revised Penal Code –Criminal Law by Luis B. Reyes
What do criminologists mean when they say the
crime is a "social phenomenon"? Why is this
significant?
The two major schools of thought about why crime
exists, and therefore society should know how to prevent it,
are psychological and sociological.
• The
psychological
school
believes
that
a
criminal
temperament grows out of childhood experiences or
chemical imbalances, and therefore crime prevention should
concentrate
tendencies.
on
those
individuals
with
“criminal”
• The second school maintains that social conditions poverty, racial prejudice, inadequate schools, etc. - have
as their natural consequence criminal behavior as an
inevitable response to social injustices -- the social
phenomenon.
Their solutions, then, revolve around
improving social conditions.
HOW CRIMINOLOGISTS VIEW CRIME
•
The Consensus View of Crime – crimes are behaviors
believed to be repugnant to all elements of society; implies general
agreement among a majority of citizens on what behaviors should
be prohibited by criminal law and viewed as crimes; function of
beliefs, morality, and rules established by the existing legal power
structure; laws apply to all citizens equally.
•
The Conflict View of Crime – the definition of crime is
controlled by wealth, power, and position; crime is a political
concept designed to protect the power and position of the upper
classes at the expense of the poor.
•
The Interactionist View of Crime – the definition of crime reflects
the preferences and opinions of people who hold social power in a
particular legal jurisdiction; these people use their influence to impose
their definition of right and wrong on the rest of the population; criminals
are individuals that society labels as outcasts or deviants because they
have violated social rules.

See criminal law as conforming to the beliefs of “moral crusaders” or
moral entrepreneurs who use their influence to shape the legal process as
they see fit;

Concerned with shifting moral and legal standards;

Crime has no meaning unless people react to it.
“He who does not prevent a crime
when he can, encourages it.”
Seneca
Thank You