INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW IN TIMOR-LESTE The Asia Foundation Timor-Leste Legal Education Project Timor-Leste Stanford Law School Rua De Nu Laran, No. 20 Crown Quadrangle Bairro Dos Grillos 559 Nathan Abbott Way Dili, Timor-Leste Stanford, CA 94305-8610 www.asiafoundation.org www.tllep.stanford.edu 1 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW .................................................................... 11 I. CRIMINAL LAW IN TIMOR-LESTE ........................................................................................................ 13 1. History of Criminal Law in Timor-Leste ........................................................................................ 13 Indonesian Annexation .................................................................................................................. 13 United Nations Transitional Authority .......................................................................................... 14 Independence ................................................................................................................................. 15 2. Contemporary Criminal Law in Timor-Leste ................................................................................. 16 3. Sources of Criminal Law in Timor-Leste ....................................................................................... 18 4. Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 20 II. TIMOR-LESTE’S CRIMINAL LAW INSTITUTIONS ................................................................................ 21 1. State Institutions and Actors ........................................................................................................... 21 The Police ...................................................................................................................................... 22 The Court System .......................................................................................................................... 22 The Office of the Prosecutor-General ............................................................................................ 24 The Public Defender’s Office ........................................................................................................ 24 Lawyers .......................................................................................................................................... 25 2. Non-State Institutions and Actors ................................................................................................... 26 Family ............................................................................................................................................ 27 Aldeia Chief ................................................................................................................................... 27 Suco Chief ...................................................................................................................................... 27 3. Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF A CRIME ............................................................................................ 35 I. ACTUS REUS: A CRIMINAL ACT OR OMISSION ..................................................................................... 38 1. Commission by Action .................................................................................................................... 39 2. Commission by Omission ............................................................................................................... 40 3. Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 43 II. MENS REA: A CRIMINAL MINDSET ..................................................................................................... 46 1. Penal Code Definitions .................................................................................................................. 47 Intent .............................................................................................................................................. 49 Negligence and Gross Negligence ................................................................................................. 50 2. Interpreting Statutes ....................................................................................................................... 53 3. Attendant Circumstances ................................................................................................................ 54 4. Mistakes .......................................................................................................................................... 54 5. Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 57 III. CAUSATION ....................................................................................................................................... 61 1. Direct Cause ................................................................................................................................... 62 2. Multiple Causes .............................................................................................................................. 62 Intervening Causes ......................................................................................................................... 63 Concurrent Causation ..................................................................................................................... 64 3. Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 65 IV. CHAPTER REVIEW ............................................................................................................................. 67 CHAPTER 3: GENERAL PRINCIPLES ............................................................................................... 71 I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES .......................................................................................................................... 73 1. Public and Semi-Public Crimes ..................................................................................................... 74 2. The Principle of Legality ................................................................................................................ 75 Prohibition on Analogy .................................................................................................................. 76 Principle of Non-Retroactivity ....................................................................................................... 78 3. Time and Place of a Crime ............................................................................................................. 79 3 4. Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 80 II. FORMS OF CRIME ................................................................................................................................ 82 1. The Penal Code Definitions of Attempt .......................................................................................... 83 Preparatory Acts and Attempt ........................................................................................................ 84 Impossibility .................................................................................................................................. 86 Voluntary Desistance ..................................................................................................................... 87 Remorse ......................................................................................................................................... 89 2. When Attempted Crimes Are Punishable ....................................................................................... 90 3. Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 91 III. PERPETRATORS OF CRIMES .............................................................................................................. 95 1. Types of Perpetrators ..................................................................................................................... 96 Principals ........................................................................................................................................ 96 Coprincipals ................................................................................................................................... 97 Secondary Participants: Instigators and Accomplices ................................................................... 99 2. Assigning Guilt ............................................................................................................................. 102 3. Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 104 IV. CHAPTER REVIEW ........................................................................................................................... 107