House passes revamped Juvenile Court Law
Aug 02, 2012
from the article by Ezra Sihite in the Jakarta Globe:
....Azis Syamsuddin, deputy chairman of House Commission III on legal affairs, said legislators were very thorough and careful in their deliberations on the legislation because the principle of restorative justice that it prioritized over punitive justice was unprecedented in Indonesia’s legal system.
In addition to promoting restorative justice, in which the needs of the perpetrator, victim and the victim’s family must be considered in reaching a solution that is aimed at healing rather than punishing, the new law also raises the minimum age at which juvenile offenders may be incarcerated to 14 years old.
The previous law set the limit at 12 years old.
Another key provision is that charges that carry a maximum sentence of less than seven years do not have to brought to trial and can instead be resolved outside the court.
The law also sets strict limits on the length of time that a juvenile offender may be remanded in police custody, and identifies several interrogatory, investigative and detention-related measures that amount to criminalization of a minor.
....The 2002 Child Protection Law stipulates that detention should only be used as a last resort and that out-of-court settlements should be prioritized.
But the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) found in a study in April that in 71 percent of cases observed, the police and prosecutors did not seek a settlement out of court.
The study, based on from interviews with 100 juvenile offenders at Tangerang Penitentiary in Banten and Pondok Bambu Juvenile Penitentiary in Jakarta between January 2010 and January 2012, showed that only 9 percent had access to lawyers, 74 percent shared their cells with adult offenders and 98 percent had reported torture.
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