Urgently of Harmonization of National Legislation on Juvenile Criminal Justice Towards International Standards: A Review of Rules of Deprivation of Liberty of Child Offender
Abstract
As a State Party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter: the CRC
Convention), Indonesia is obliged to implement fully the Convention. For this purpose, Indonesia
has to undertake some measures, among others to undertake all appropriate legislative measures
for the implementation of the rights recognized in the Convention. Legislative measures in this
regard include harmonization national legislation towards international standards.
This paper aims to examine one problem, namely why harmonization of national legislation
concerning deprivation of liberty of child offender to international standards is urgent. This will
be answered by pointing out discrepancies between national legislation and international
standards based primarily on legal document analysis.
Refer to the analysis, first reason for doing harmonization is current national legislation still
differs greatly from the CRC Convention. At one side, according to the CRC Convention, rules
on deprivation of liberty are: (1) deprivation of liberty shall be used only as a measure of last
resort; (2) deprivation of liberty shall be used for the shortest appropriate period of time; (3)
States Parties ensure by strict legal provisions that legality of deprivation of liberty is reviewed
regularly. At the other side, according to national legislation, especially Act no. 3 of 1997, rules
on deprivation of liberty are: (1) deprivation of liberty, includes pre-trial detention is possible
when a child has committed an offense punishable by a minimum sentence of five years
imprisonment; (2) the maximum duration of deprivation of liberty is 175 days; (3) there is no
provision on reviewing regularly of deprivation of liberty.
Second reason is Act no. 11 of 2012 that will eliminate Act no. 3 of 1997 and enter in to force
at July 2014 does also not conform to the CRC Convention. According to Act no. 11 of 2012,
rules on deprivation of liberty are: (1) deprivation of liberty will not be used if child offender
guaranteed by parents or other relevant institution; (2) deprivation of liberty is unavoidable in
case child offender has committed an offense punishable by a minimum sentence of seven years
imprisonment and child has attained fourteen years old; (3) there is no provision on reviewing
regularly of deprivation of liberty.
Recommendation that should be carried out is to amend urgently the Act no. 11 of 2012 in
light of the CRC Convention
Keywords
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