Criminal Law and Offences Against Persons and Property
This domain checks whether you can classify an act correctly - which offence, which stage, which aggravating circumstance. Guards testify in court, and a wrong classification in a report can damage a case.
The frame
Book One of the Revised Penal Code covers felonies committed by dolo (intent) or culpa (fault), the three stages - attempted, frustrated, consummated - and aggravating, mitigating, and exempting circumstances. Special laws sit outside the Code and are read on their own terms.
Property offences you will meet
- Theft (Art. 308): taking personal property without the owner's consent, with intent to gain, without violence or intimidation against persons.
- Qualified theft (Art. 310): theft attended by grave abuse of confidence, serious breach of trust, or commission by a domestic servant - including an unfaithful employee. Penalty is two degrees higher.
- Robbery (Arts. 293–294): the same taking but with violence or intimidation against persons, or force upon things.
- Estafa (Art. 315) and BP 22 for bouncing checks.
Persons and public-order offences
Murder and homicide, physical injuries, rape (RA 8353), VAWC (RA 9262), child abuse (RA 7610), illegal possession of firearms (RA 10591), drugs (RA 9165), trespass to dwelling (Art. 280), grave coercion (Art. 286), alarm and scandal (Art. 155), unjust vexation (Art. 287), and illegal detention.
Worked example
A stockroom clerk quietly loads company laptops into his bag over several nights. No force, no intimidation - so this is theft, not robbery. Because he abused the confidence of his employment, it is qualified theft under Art. 310. The guard's report should state observed facts (bag, time, serial numbers), not the legal conclusion.
Traps that cost marks
Mixing up theft and robbery; treating a frustrated stage as consummated when no injury was inflicted; assuming a guard who takes a bribe is liable for direct bribery under Art. 210 - that article applies to public officers, so a private guard's conduct is assessed under theft, estafa, or the special law involved.