Module 1

Lesson objectives:

1. Define what is crime;

2. Differentiate the social and legal context of crime
3. Discuss the importance of law in the society
4. Discuss the acts considered as crime.

Social and Legal Context of Crime

In social context,
Crime refers to any act considered as wrong or that violates the standard norm in the
society.
Act – means that there must be an overt bodily movement.
Overt – meaning it can be seen or observed.
1. The act committed is wrong such that the act performed injuries or otherwise
deprive the individual of either their lives (killing a person) or property (stealing
something)
2. The acts violate the standard norm meaning the society itself considered the act
as a crime.
There are cases in which a country or its culture dictates whether or not an act is a
crime, then it suggests that the territorial rule or governance prevails primarily, and as
such, the definition of the term “crime” may vary in every place.
1. Where the country is the dictating factor.
2. Where the culture is the dictating factor.

Legal Context
Crime is primarily based on the laws of the land.
Law is defined as the system of rule embodied by different principles that bind the
practice or action concerning human conduct.
Meanwhile, under Philippine jurisprudence, crime in legal perspective is defined as an
act or omission in violation of the law. In the eyes of the law, crime can be committed
either:

1. Through an act performed by the offender that is contrary or violates the law;
2. Through omission by which the offender fails to perform a certain action as
required by law.

Examples:
1. Through an act performed by the offender
a. Theft (Art. 308, RPC)
b. Robbery (Art. 293, RPC)
c. Homicide (Art. 249, RPC)
d. Murder (Art. 248, RPC)
e. Illegal Possession of Firearm (Presidential Decree 1866 as amended by
Republic Act 8294)
f. Human Trafficking (Republic Act 9208 as amended by Republic Act
10364)

2. Crime by omission
a. Delaying release (Art. 126, RPC)
b. Other cases of Evasion of Service of Sentence (Art. 159, RPC)
c. Failure to make delivery of public funds or property (Act. 221, RPC)
d. Refusal of assistance (Art.233, RPC)

As crime refers legally and generally to an act or omission that violates the law, some
terms must also be noted as they might be confusing and interchange with the word
crime, such as:
1. Felony – these are crimes that violates the Revised Penal Code (Act 3815)
 2. Offense – these are acts which were defined as crime as a result of the special
law enacted by legislature
3. Misdemeanor – these are minor violations or infractions not tantamount to
serious injuries or damages.

Revised Penal Code – defined those acts as crime, in which by nature are wrong or evil
(mala in se) as well as provided their nature, penalty, and elements.

Special Laws – are those that are identify an act as a crime (mala prohibita) as a result
of enactment of the laws as crafted by congress in the form of Republic Acts.

Offender – refers to any person accused or otherwise charged of a crime either through
an act or omission.
 in the course of investigation, all available means must be exhausted to prove
the allegation that will be brought before the trial court against the offender.

Investigation – refers to the systematic examination to crack and solve an allegation.

Allegation – refers to the contention that someone had committed a crime.
 It must be noted that it is the primary job of the investigator to gather evidence
needed to solve the case and the process of employing the different investigative
techniques.
MODULE 2
Lesson Objective:
1. Discuss the concept of criminal responsibility.
2. Discuss what is police power
3. Explain the inadmissibility of evidence
4. Enumerate the qualities of an effective investigator

Criminal Responsibility and Investigative Police

Power

Criminal Responsibility – is the obligation of a person for the charges as a result of

his criminal act.
 Since crime in its social context includes the culture of a certain group, the
investigator must remember that each culture may vary and shift from one
another.

Culture – in simple term refers to the characteristics of a certain group of people

which commonly include their way of living, language, religion, social habit, beliefs,
attitude, and other traits whereby people from another culture will recognize them.

PD 1508 – as amended cited that “the customs and traditions of indigenous cultural
communities shall be applied in setting disputes between members of the cultural
communities” (paragraph 3, Section 412 of RA 7160)
 Therefore, the investigator should also be reminded of this practice and be
sensitive enough in assisting the prosecution of the case if feasible.

Criminal responsibility is also affected by some other factor such as age or the
soundness of the mind of the presumed criminal, these are minors and lunatics.

 Technically, the term minor, child or children refers to someone who is not yet
in their puberty stage.
 Puberty on the other hand is the stage wherein the child is capable of
reproduction.
 Legally, child is defined as any person below the age of 18 years (par.5 section
4, RA 9344 as amended)
 Legally, children refer to a person under eighteen (18) years of age or those over,
but are unable to fully take care of themselves or protect themselves from
abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or
mental disability or condition (par. 1, section 3, RA 7610).
 Lunatics are those individuals whose minds are in the state of sickness or ill.
These are those individuals who cannot decide on their own and cannot take
good care of themselves even if they are already above the age of emancipation.
 Age of emancipation – simply means as the life stage of the individual whereby
parental authority over him ceases.
 In the Philippines the age of emancipation is 18 years.
 RA 9344 as amended provides that child/children who is/are 15 years old and
below during the commission of the crime shall automatically exempt the child
from criminal responsibility.

Investigative Police Power

 The Philippine National Police as the force in the country that are vested
with the power to effect investigation of cases as a result of crime
commission.
Police Power – necessary as it is one of the regulatory means of the government
to control, maintain, and ensure that the conduct of its people is within the
bounds of the law.
 Investigative Police Power – is defined as the capacity of the police to initiate
investigation of cases which violates the law.
- It is a mandatory obligation of the police to conduct an investigation as it is one
of their primary functions.
Presumption of Innocence – is based on the principle that every person subjected to
a criminal case is deemed considered innocent unless proven guilty beyond reasonable
doubt.
Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt – is a principle which states that a person is guilty
based on moral certainty.
Moral Certainty – in a sense that a person is proven guilty based on how the court
appreciated the evidence presented during trial which produces a conviction.
Conviction – on the other hand is a judgement rendered by the trial court that the
accused person is guilty of the crime charge against him.
- As law provides the objectives of criminal investigation, it is also the one that
dictates and controls their conduct.
Objective – as use in this text refers to the direction and end – purpose of
criminal investigation needed to solve the case.

Substantive and Procedural Criminal Investigation

Substantive Criminal Investigation – refers to the knowledge, nature, and implication of

the different crimes that investigator should know and possess.
- It must be noted that the elements of every crime should be considered as they
will guide investigators regarding the proper change that should be brought
before the prosecution office.

Procedural Criminal Investigation – refers to the knowledge regarding the rules on how
pieces of physical evidence should be processed in order to maintain its integrity
during the presentation and be given credit by the trial court.

Physical Evidence – refers to any material or substance which is found in the crime
scene and has a logical connection to the offense charged and which aids the
investigator in solving the case.

Crime Scene – is simply the area where the crime took place and where all pieces of
physical evidence were gathered and collected.

Evidence in any crime incident dictates the outcome of the case as a result of criminal
investigation as these are the primary source that will serve as the bases in
prosecuting the person who will be held for trial.

Accused – the person who is referred to as the person brought before the court of law
trial.

In the Philippines, the Revised Rules of Court provides for the requirement as to how
individual evidence will be admitted such that:

1. Evidence must be relevant – evidence is relevant to the matter under

investigation if it has a logical connection to the fact in issue brought before the
court (gun is a relevant evidence in shooting incident);

2. Evidence must be competent – evidence is competent when it does not violate

any procedural requirement during the gathering or collection of such evidence
or that it is not excluded by the laws (shabu seized with a warrant is a
competent evidence).

Under the law, there are three general classifications of evidence that investigator
must remember such as:

1. Object Evidence – an evidence which by its nature can be brought before the
court as these are the actual materials that are recovered from the crime scene.
These are also evidence which directly addresses to the senses of the court.
 2. Testimonial Evidence – an evidence offered in the form of testimony either by an
eyewitness in the commission of the crime or those who have knowledge
regarding its commission.

3. Documentary Evidence – these are evidences in document form which includes

some electronic evidence such as text messages, chat messages, electronic mail
and some other evidence which are printable.

Other classes of evidence are as follows:

1. Direct evidence vs. Circumstantial Evidence

a. Direct evidence – evidence which is directly proves the case under
investigation
b. Circumstantial evidence- these are the combinations of the different events
which is combined may produce a conviction. Otherwise known as indirect
evidence.

2. Corroborative vs. Cumulative Evidence

a. Corroborative evidence – these are evidences which have a different
character from the one previously offered.
b. Cumulative evidence – these are evidences which have a similar nature and
character to the one previously offered.

3. Positive vs. Negative Evidence

a. Positive evidence – an evidence offered by a witness in which he clearly
manifest that an event or scenario exist or did not exist.
b. Negative evidence – an evidence offered by a witness in which he is not
certain as to whether an event or scenario exist or did not exist.

4. Prima Facie vs. Rebuttal Evidence

a. Prima facie evidence – an evidence offered which may produce a conviction if
no rebuttal evidence can be shown.
b. Rebuttal evidence – an evidence offered to contradict an evidence previously
offered.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION AND ITS PHASES

Criminal Investigation – is defined as art and science oriented toward identifying

perpetrator/s, launching operations to locate his/their whereabouts and gathering of
evidence to prove their guilt during proceeding.

Criminal Investigation is deemed considered as an art since it involves the

personal qualities of the investigator as how he will utilize different techniques and
devise his own investigative skills in order to apprehend the perpetrator.

Science in a sense that criminal investigation follows a logical procedure,

methods or process in order to arrive at a certain conclusion as to how the crime was
committed as well as to how he will provide evidence to prove the guilt of the
perpetrator during criminal proceeding.

The term perpetrator refers to the person suspected to have committed an act which is
defined by law as crime and whose identify was unknown to the police.

In the course of investigating crime, criminal investigation takes the following stages to
ensure the success of the case being handled namely:

1. Identify perpetrator/s – it is important in the first part of investigation to

recognize as to who is the perpetrator of the crime. It is mainly established as
this will guide investigators as to who committed the crime.
 2. Locate hid/their whereabouts – after identifying perpetrator, the next step is to
trace his whereabouts, which includes but it is not limited to his place of
residence, workplace and hangout.
3. Provide evidence needed for his conviction – to successfully produce a
conviction, investigators must remember the rules in handling evidence so as to
maintain its integrity starting from the crime scene up until during court
presentation.

ROLE AND QUALITIES OF AN INVESTIGATOR

Investigators play an important role in the success of criminal investigation. As they

are the primary individual who gathers and collects relevant information concerning
the crime and later n give testimonial evidence in court. As such, they should possess
the following qualities to become an effective investigator:

1. Good communication – this refers to the capability of the investigator to interact

both in written and oral. This means that they can do effective interview either
to the witness or suspect as well as be able to write a written report when
required to do so. Effective interview means a fruitful interaction between the
investigator and the people as he gathers information without language
problem.
2. Active listener – this refers to the ability of the investigator to attentively hear
the testimony given by a witness and be able to identify hearsay statements or
false statements. Hearsay are those statement made by the person who does
not witness the actual commission of the crime while false statements are those
statements which are purely fictitious and are invented only by the witness.
3. Critical thinking – this refers to the analytical skills of the investigator while he
formulates judgment based on the testimonies given by witnesses and
evidences gathered in the course of investigation.
4. Work under pressure – this refers to the capacity of the investigator to go
through the investigation process despite of obstacles and hindrances that he
may encounter such as but not limited to lack of resources, inadequate
investigative leads and clues and others.
Investigative leads refer to the information gathered from specially those who
are within the immediate area where the crime took place while clues refer to
the pieces of signs and traces which helps in identifying perpetrators.
5. Innovativeness – this refers to the flexibility and resourcefulness of the
investigator in trying to uncover the identity and location of the perpetrator.
This includes finding all possible ideas that he may take in the course of
investigation.
6. Integrity – this refers to the honor and honesty of the investigator in solving the
case and avoid unethical issues that will discredit his image.
7. Knowledge about rules on evidence – this refers to the knowledge of the
investigator about evidence handling which includes but not limited to
preservation, marking, tagging, packaging, and the requirements as to how
such evidence will be admitted in court during presentation.