Criminal Law; Special Complex Crime

A special complex crime, or more properly, a composite crime, has its own definition and special penalty
in the Revised Penal Code, as amended.

Composite crimes are neither of the same legal basis as nor subject to the rules on complex crimes in
Article 48 of the Revised Penal Code, since they do not consist of a single act giving rise to two or more
grave or less grave felonies (compound crimes) nor do they involve an offense being a necessary means
to commit another (complex crime proper). However, just like the regular complex crimes, only a single
penalty is imposed for each of such composite crimes although composed of two or more offenses. [
People v. Malinao, G.R. No. 128148, February 16, 2004]

Where the law provides a single penalty for two or more component offenses, the resulting crime is
called a special complex crime. Some of the special complex crimes under the Revised Penal Code are
(1) robbery with homicide, (2) robbery with rape, (3) kidnapping with serious physical injuries, (4)
kidnapping with murder or homicide, and (5) rape with homicide. In a special complex crime, the
prosecution must necessarily prove each of the component offenses with the same precision that would
be necessary if they were made the subject of separate complaints. [People v. Laog, G.R. No. 178321,
October 5, 2011]