Reminder To Be Careful In Applying Restorative Justice, Supreme Court Judge: Due To Criminal Principles There Is State Involvement

The Supreme Court (MA) building in Jakarta. (Between)

JAKARTA - The Supreme Court (MA) reminds all parties that the application of restorative justice in the settlement of a case must prioritize the principle of prudence.

"You have to be careful because the principle of criminal justice involves the involvement of the state," said Supreme Court Justice Suharto at the Supreme Court of the Criminal Court during a discussion entitled Contextualization of Restorative Justice Implementation in Indonesia in Jakarta, Wednesday, July 6.

He is concerned that in the application of restorative justice, the state is too civil in nature, which is essentially peaceful in resolving disputes. In fact, in criminal law, peace does not resolve disputes because the role of the state is to maintain public order.

Therefore, he said, the legislators in this case the Criminal Code distinguish general offenses and complaint offenses. In the complaint offense, the revocation of the claim can still be carried out for 90 days.

Meanwhile, if the case is a general offense, then there is no attempt to withdraw the case. However, he continued, if there is peace between the victim and the defendant and it must be resolved through a court, the judge can consider it as something mitigating.

In general, the Supreme Court sees the application of restorative justice as something interesting. Because the court is the last place to decide a case. If a case can be resolved at the prosecution or investigation stage, then the matter will not reach the court.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Partnership, Laode M. Syarif, assessed that the government and related parties need to make the same standardization regarding the implementation of restorative justice.

"Restorative justice is the government's priority, but we do not yet have the same standard in terms of implementation," said Laode M. Syarif.

By making restorative justice a government priority, Based on the Antara report, the Indonesian National Police, the Attorney General's Office and the Supreme Court are also doing the same thing in law enforcement in the country.

He said that if there is no common standardization of restorative justice, it will create gaps. As a result, implementation in the police, the Supreme Court and the Attorney General's Office will have an impact on correctional institutions (prisons).