The subject on sentencing law is not really important to the general public, but it’s included in this Forum for reference and discussion. Foreign jurisdictions have a more extensive online record and discussion on sentencing law (for instance, the sentencing project and the sentencing law and policy. Let’s do that here, still with the Plain Language Initiative in mind.

A sentence, in law, is the penalty imposed by the court in a criminal case against a person, known as the “accused”, who is found guilty of committing the crime charged. There is no law known as sentencing law in the Philippines. For our purposes, however, it refers to the collection of laws governing the determination and imposition of the proper penalty in a criminal case. This collection includes:

The Revised Penal Code (RPC) and all other criminal laws, as to the imposable penalty. The RPC is also the basic source of rules on the application of penalties.

Indeterminate Sentence Law (Act No. 4103, as amended)

We will further discuss the subject on sentencing law in the months to come. Incidentally, earlier this year, the Supreme Court appointed the members of the Committee to Revise the Benchbook on Penalties: Justice Edilberto Sandoval, chairperson; Hon. Lucas Bersamin of Court of Appeals, Hon. Diosdado Peralta of the Sandiganbayan, and RTC Judge Mario Lopez, as members. All lawyers are invited to discuss here.

Added: While the discussion is still to be conducted here, we have transferred the article on the Indeterminate Sentence Law at the Legal Wiki of the LawCenter.ph.