The government has accelerated the implementation of restorative justice in Indonesia as an approach in law enforcement in all phases, according to the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.
“Starting from pre-adjudication, adjudication to post-adjudication,” Secretary of the ministry’s Directorate General of Corrections, Heni Yuwono, noted here, Wednesday, during a series of activities for the Indonesia Netherlands Legal Update (INLU) 2022.
Yuwono said accelerating the application of restorative justice is part of the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) and has become a priority program in ministries and institutions, especially in the legal field.
However, he said, there is no single legal umbrella that covers all institutions and restorative justice is partially implemented by legal institutions.
According to Yuwono, this has created obstacles, including the lack of understanding on definitions, forms, criteria, procedures, and the relationship between law enforcement officers.
Moreover, the alternative punishment until now has yet to be applied maximally as stipulated in Article 14 a to c of the Criminal Code.
“In fact, imprisonment should be used as an ‘ultimum remedium,'” he emphasized.
Hence, Yuwono said, law enforcement should not only prioritize certainty but also justice and benefit.
The Directorate General of Corrections understands that placing criminals in prisons will have an impact on the budget, he stated.
However, if the training for prisoners does not run optimally, then the imprisonment process would fail to make people better.
Failure in the correction process in prisons, in fact, might increase the number of recidivists and hinder the establishment of a safer society, he remarked.
Restorative Justice is a model approach that emerged in the 1960s in an effort to solve criminal cases. Unlike the approach used in the conventional criminal justice system, this approach focuses on the direct participation of perpetrators, victims, and society in the settlement process.
Source: Antara News