Social Sanctions And Job Training Await Restorative Justice Recipients In Batam

BATAM - The Batam City District Attorney's Office (Kejari), Riau Islands, is preparing a new policy for recipients of the restorative justice (RJ) program. The policy is in the form of providing social sanctions and job training, which will be implemented in handling the upcoming RJ case.

Head of Batam District Attorney's Office I Ketut Kasna Dedi said this step was taken to provide a deterrent effect as well as social benefits to perpetrators of minor crimes who have received termination of cases through a restorative justice scheme.

"Social sanctions for RJ recipients are being prepared. Currently, we have not handled any RJ cases, but we will apply them in the next handling," Kasna said when confirmed in Batam, Antara, Tuesday, July 10.

According to him, RJ can only be given once in a lifetime. Therefore, an additional approach is needed such as social sanctions so that the perpetrator does not repeat his actions.

"This social sanction is to avoid the impression that RJ only provides relief. We want educational value and real benefits for both the perpetrators and the community," he said.

Several forms of planned social sanctions include cleaning houses of worship, becoming environmental cleaning staff and participating in job skills training

This step is also based on the Batam Kejari's internal evaluation, which found that most of the perpetrators of the case resolved through RJ were unemployed and had no expertise, especially in theft cases.

More than 50 percent of RJ's perpetrators are unemployed. So, job training can be a long-term solution to reduce potential repeated crimes," explained Kasna.

This policy was also welcomed positively by the Batam City Government. According to Kasna, the City Government is ready to cooperate to support the implementation of social sanctions.

"The Batam City Government is very welcome. We are just waiting for the RJ case to be implemented directly with this social sanction," he said.

This policy began to be discussed since January 2025. It is hoped that the combination of RJ, social sanctions, and job training can be a new approach that is more just, humanist, and has an impact on society.

"Hopefully this will be a positive breakthrough so that RJ can really feel the benefits, not just an alternative to stopping cases," he concluded.