College of Criminal Justice Education: University of Cagayan Valley
College of Criminal Justice Education: University of Cagayan Valley
College of Criminal Justice Education: University of Cagayan Valley
Overview:
- Historical background of criminal justice system
- American Criminal Justice System
- Law enforcement as the first pillar of criminal justice system
Introduction:
In the Philippines, crime is so prevalent and inevitable. It is not only a police
matter, but also a problem in the community where victims of criminal violence abound.
Cooperation of the police and the community members is imperative to repress, if not
totally eradicate criminal acts. Members of the community must be vigilant in their
surroundings against lawless elements. They must have the fundamental knowledge and
tools needed to help in crime prevention. One aspect of crime prevention is the proper
understanding of how the legal system works in our country.
Learning Outcomes:
- Explain the description of the Philippine Criminal Justice System
- Elaborate both the theory and concept of the PCJS
- Enumerate and explain the major components of the American Criminal Justice System
- Compare the American Criminal Justice System
Learning Objectives:
- Students will understand how the Criminal Justice System work.
- Students will learn the various roles of the Law enforcement as the first pillar of CJS.
2. Informal CJS is the “larger” Criminal Justice System, which includes (aside from
traditional criminal justice system) the public and private agencies and citizens that are
involved in reducing and preventing the crimes. These private functionaries include
community organizations, unions, barangays, employers, and individual citizens. Their
participation in the larger CJS is usually ignored by most of the citizens.
Because police officers are component of the criminal justice system in closest
contact with the community, they are often blamed for failures in other parts (Courts and
Corrections) of the system.
It must be remembered that all these components are interlinked in the operation.
If one is ineffective, the whole system is affected.
Goals of Criminal Justice System
The criminal justice system has two primary major goals:
1. To protect the members of the community.
2. To maintain peace and order.
Secondary Goals:
1. Crime Prevention;
2. Suppression of criminal conduct by apprehending the offenders for whom prevention is
ineffective;
3. Review of the legality of preventive and suppressive measures;
4. Judicial determination of guilt/innocence of those apprehended;
5. Proper disposition of those have been legally found guilty; and
6. Correction by socially approved means of the behavior of those who violate the criminal
law.
- The wheels of law enforcement start grinding when a crime is detected. Detection takes
place when the concerned law enforcement body (police force or specialized agency)
receive a report from the victim or a witness or catch the crime perpetrator. Thereafter,
the law enforcers verify the information furnished and proceed with the investigation.
- the law enforcement branch enforces the laws in the state, country, or assigned
jurisdiction.
- describes the individuals and agencies responsible for enforcing laws and maintaining
public order and public safety. Law enforcement includes the prevention, detection, and
investigation of crime, and the apprehension and detention of individuals suspected of
law violation.
Main Purpose
- To uphold their countries, state's, or local laws.
2. ADJUDICATION (Court)
• The adjudication of a criminal case involves court processes. In plain terms,
adjudication refers to the legal process by which a judgment is pronounced by the
court to the parties in a case. As with the law enforcement component of the criminal
justice system, the courts are organized at federal, state, and special-jurisdiction levels.
• State and local courts are established by a state (within states there are also local courts
that are established by cities, counties, and other municipalities.
• Cases individual citizens are most likely to be involved in such as robberies, traffic
violations, broken contracts, and family disputes.
• Federal courts are established under the U.S. Constitution to decide disputes involving
the Constitution and laws passed by Congress.
• Federal courts hear: criminal, antitrust, bankruptcy, patent, copyright, and some maritime
cases.
• In some cases, both federal and state courts have jurisdiction.
Pre-trial services- The adjudication process starts when the law enforcement body has
submitted the police/arrest report to the prosecutor. The prosecutor, in turn, determines whether
or not the incident will prosper into a criminal case, in which the suspected offender will be
charged with the crime.
• It is not uncommon for the prosecutor to drop or dismiss charges altogether, for reasons
that include lack of evidence and weak police investigation. It is the prosecutor that takes
the side of the victim and, accordingly, the state (society or community), which the crime
has also affected.
Arraignment- If the prosecutor decides to press charges against a suspected offender, the
adjudication process advances to arraignment. During arraignment, the suspect is read the
charge/s filed against him or her. With the aid of a legal counsel, the suspect (now a defendant)
enters a plea of either guilty or not guilty.
Trial- The arraignment progresses into trial to determine the guilt of the suspect (if the not-guilty
plea was not entered). In the event of a guilty verdict, the offender is convicted, and the court
will determine the sentence.
Sentencing- A court conviction corresponds to a sentence, which is the penalty imposed on the
offender who has been found guilty as a result of the preceding trial. The sentence is meted out
by the judge, who follows prescribed guidelines, standards, and limitations in punishing convicts.
3. CORRECTIONS
• Institutional corrections refer to those persons housed in secure correctional facilities.
• the correctional branch duties are to make sure that the punishment or in some cases
rehabilitation is seen through until the end of the determined sentence provided by the
judge (Courts).
f. Commonwealth Act No. 88 - An Act to Provide for the Organization and Maintenance
of a State Police Force on October 26, 1936
g. In November 1938, Act #181 required the creation of a Bureau of Investigation. This
agency should be the modification of the Division of Investigation (DI) from the
Department of Justice. Finally, on June 19, 1947, R.A. 157 was enacted which created
the National Bureau of Investigation.
d. On August 8, 1975, Presidential Decree #765 was enacted and stipulated that the office
of the NAPOLCOM should be under the office of the Ministry of National Defense. It
defined also the relationship between the Integrated National Police and the Philippine
Constabulary. This was following the provisions of Section 12, Article 15 of the 1973
Philippines Constitution.
e. On December 13, 1990, Republic Act # 6975 was approved by then President Corazon
Aquino. This law is known as the DILG Act of 1990 and it is also recognized as the PNP
law of 1991. This law created the Philippine National Police and declared it to be the
only police force of the country with national scope and civilian in character.
f. On February 25, 1998, the provisions of Republic Act # 8551 was approved by
President Fidel Ramos. R.A. #8551, known as the PNP Reform and Reorganization
Act of 1998, reorganized the PNP for the purpose of reforming or professionalizing it.
POLICE - as public office is charged with peace and order, protection of life and property and
arrest of violators of law and enforcement of the law.
- It refers to a police officer occupied by a police officer in the PNP as an agency created
under R.A. 6975 (DILG Act of 1990)
POLICE OFFICERS - refers to a person who is an agent of authority occupying the police
office and is mandated to implement the laws of the land as his primary function in the
maintenance of peace and tranquility.
• Police/Law Enforcement Pillar is a branch of criminal justice system that has the specific
responsibility of maintaining law and order and combating crime within the society.
• Politia – means condition of the state, government and administration.
• The word “police” originated from the Greek word “Politeia” which means govt,
citizenship or the entire activity of a POLIS – a city. It applied to civil officers and not
necessarily policeman. The Romans changed the word to “Police” and applied it to that
person who actually enforced the law. Thereafter, the English and the Americans
borrowed the word intact from the French and used it to describe a law enforcer.
2 Agencies in-charge of law enforcement
1. PNP
2. NBI
Jurisdiction:
A. Territory – national in scope
B. Case Jurisdiction – own initiative and civil and administrative in which government is
interested whenever properly required
Police Functions
• These police functions represent the big percentage of time consumed in the performance
of their duties:
1. Protecting lives and properties and serving the community
2. Participating in crime prevention and crime suppression
3. Preventing criminal and delinquent behaviors at the grassroots level within their area of
responsibility
4. Repressing criminal and delinquent behaviors
5. Identifying, apprehending and convicting offenders within their area of responsibility
(AOR) and
6. Regulating traffic flow and collision reduction.
2. Auxiliary or Secondary – services performed by the police officers who aid the
operating line officers in the performance of their duties.
a. Record section
b. Communication function
c. Police laboratory duties
d. Jail duties
e. Property management
f. Maintenance
3. Administrative – is the policy making body where the rules to be followed originate and
it includes the functions of management to facilitate and make possible the effective
accomplishment of the first two operations.
a. Discipline, awards and decorations office for personnel
b. Legal affairs
c. Personnel (recruitment, promotion, training, welfare office
a. Crime Detection
1. Receipt of citizen complaints or calls for assistance
2. Receipts of signals from alarm devices
3. Observations by officers on patrol of suspicious behavior, a crime in progress, or the
aftermath of a crime
4. Observation of the planning or execution of crimes by pro-active measures
* Response time – the time that elapses between receipt of the call or alarm and the arrival of the
responding officers at the crime.
b. Crime Investigation
- It is a police activity directed toward the identification and apprehension of alleged
criminals and the accumulation, preservation and presentation of evidence regarding their
alleged crimes.
a) Preliminary/Initial investigation – taking care injured persons, arrest or pursue
suspects, protect the crime scene.
b) Follow-up investigation – it is an extension, or continuation of the preliminary
investigation. It is necessary to bring a case to a successful conclusion or to solve an
unsolved case.
c) Apprehension of Suspects – An arrest is made by an actual restraint of a person to be
arrested or by his submission to the custody of the person making arrest. No violence
or unnecessary force shall be used in making an arrest. The person arrested shall not
be subject to a greater restraint than is necessary for his detention. (Rules of Court,
Rule 113, Sec 2)
Police Discretion
The police officer is vested by law with discretion to act in certain conditions or
situations in accordance with his own judgment or conscience. For as long as his concept of
police discretion is not in conflict with the letter and spirit of the law, he must have flexibility in
dealing with situations he encounters in his work.
Some Discretions of the Police:
1. To be lenient when necessary, in the enforcement of laws and ordinance.
2. Not to be strict in effecting arrest in less serious cases.
3. To gather additional evidence or immediately file a case against the suspect.
4. To follow-up cases
MIRANDA WARNING
1. You are arrested for the crime of ____ (or by virtue of warrant of arrest, showing him the
warrant as it is practicable).
2. You have the right to remain silent. Any statement you make may be used for or against
you in any court of law in the Philippines.
3. You have the right to have a competent and independent counsel preferably of your own
choice. If you cannot afford the services of counsel the government will provide one for
you. Do you understand these rights?
Warrant of Arrest – it is an order in writing issued in the name of the People of the Philippines,
signed by a judge and directed to a peace officer, commanding him to take a person into custody
in order that he may be bound to answer for the commission of an offense.
• An officer in order to make an arrest either by virtue of a warrant, or without a warrant,
may break into any building or enclosure where the person to be arrested is or is
reasonably believed to be, if he is refused admittance thereto, after announcing his
authority and purpose. Whenever an officer has entered the building or enclosure, he may
break out therefrom when necessary to liberate himself. (Rules of Court, Rule 113, Sec
10-12)
Valid Warrantless Arrest
• Arrest can be made by a peace officer or a private person through the following
circumstances:
a. When in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing or
is attempting to commit an offense.
b. When an offense has just been committed and has probable cause to believe based on
personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has
committed it; and
c. When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment
or place where he is serving final judgment or is temporarily confined while his case is
pending, or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another
(Section 5, Rule 113)
*An arrest may be made on any day and at any time of the day or night. (Rules of Court, Rule
113, Sec 6)
Search and Seizure
Search Warrant – it is an order in writing issued in the name of the people of the Philippines,
signed by a judge and directed to a peace officer, commanding him to search for personal
property described therein and bring it before the court.
Plain View – without a search, the possession of articles prohibited by law is disclosed to plain
view or is open to eye and hand.
THE CASE PREPARATION
- This is the process of bringing together in an organized and logical manner all evidence
collected during the investigation of a crime and present it to the prosecutor.
- The investigator must be able to present to the prosecutor and prove before the court the
CORPUS DELICTI.
- Corpus Delicti (substance or body of the crime) – it means that a specific crime was
committed at a specified time, date and place, and that the person named in his report
committed the crime.