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5 By prohibiting multiple punishments for a single criminal act Penal Code section 654. affords protection beyond and different from that given by either the constitutional proscrip-. tion of subsequent jeopardy or the implementation of that doctrine by Penal Code section 1023..
Most criminal offences require the co-existence of the above two elements (i.e. actus reus and mens rea) at the same time. The concept is derived from the Latin expression â actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea â, which means that the act will not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty.