Criminal Law Expert Witness: Its Function, Terms, And Obligations In Trial

Illustration of criminal law expert witnesses (Unsplash)

YOGYAKARTA - A criminal law expert witness is a familiar term in the world of trial or judiciary. The terminology of expert witnesses is understood by the public as people or experts who attend and provide information in court.

In the Criminal Procedure Code in Indonesia (KUHAP) there is actually no naming of the term expert witness. The Criminal Procedure Code uses the mention of expert testimony as legal evidence in examining a criminal case, which is regulated in Article 184.

However, the public is more accustomed to using the mention of expert witnesses'' than expert statements. So what is expert testimony in criminal law in Indonesia?

The expert testimony is an expert witness who is considered competent in the field of objects being prosecuted in the trial. Information from experts is one of the legal evidence for the purpose of examining criminal cases. Article 184 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code states that the legal evidence is: witness testimony, expert testimony, letters, instructions and statements of the defendant.

Experts have special skills as contained in Article 1 point 28 of the Criminal Procedure Code, namely: the ability to explain or describe a certain object based on experience, expertise, competencies possessed to assist the criminal justice process.

The testimony of expert witnesses is used to assist the criminal justice process. This information is very important because not all fields are understood by the judge. Only an expert is able to explain in detail about certain fields that are included in a criminal case.

The defendant or suspect is allowed to file an expert witness or someone who has special expertise to provide information. The purpose of submitting this expert witness is to lighten the law and benefit the defendant. The expert witness will give an opinion based on the area under control.

The existence of expert witnesses in the trial is not mandatory. So a trial can be required or does not present it. Experts witnesses may also not be consulted on a case. The realm of expert witnesses may only testify according to their expertise.

Actually, there are no special rules in the Criminal Procedure Code regarding the terms of expert testimony or expert witnesses in court. The Criminal Procedure Code only states: as long as (expert witnesses) have special expertise about what is needed to make a criminal case clear and submitted by certain parties, then the statement can be heard for the purpose of examination.

There are several factors and criteria as a condition for being an expert witness according to

Meanwhile, according to legal expert Yahya Harahap, the criteria for someone to be called an expert witness are as follows:

An expert witness who is present at the trial has the rights and obligations stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Code. The rights of expert witnesses are as follows:

Meanwhile, the obligation of expert witnesses is as follows:

That is the function of a criminal law expert witness who was present at the trial. Expert witnesses or expert testimony have the rights and obligations stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Code.

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