Ternate – The Criminal Code which is currently still valid in Indonesia is the old Criminal Code or WvS from the Netherlands, which actually adopted the Criminal Code from France, because the Netherlands was colonized by France in 1806. Then it was adopted by the Netherlands and spread to various colonial countries. The desire to change the Criminal Code has been carried out since 1958 since the existence of the LPHN. During the 7 Presidents and 7 Governments it was a period of struggle to make the Indonesian nation’s own national Criminal Code.
This was explained by the Acting Director General of Legislation Ministry of Law and Human Rights , Dhahana Putra, Bc . IP, in a socialization event for the new Criminal Code organized by the Indonesian Criminal Law and Criminology Society (MAHUPIKI) in Ternate, North Maluku, Monday (30/1/2023).
According to him, there are five missions of the new Criminal Code, namely the first is open recodification and also still recognizes related to other laws that are regulated related to criminal provisions. The second is harmonization
“This is also quite interesting when Indonesia has a commitment to human rights,” said Dhahana Putra.
The third is modernization, these four actualizations are also in accordance with the present, especially regarding Living law . Furthermore, democratization is very important for the balance between individual and social morality.
University Criminal Law Expert Gadjah Mada (UGM), Prof. Dr. Marcus Priyo Gunarto said that the National Criminal Code has undergone changes.
“If we look at it from the perspective of novelty, there are many notes that can be conveyed which then differentiate between our national Criminal Code and WvS ,” said Prof. Marcus
The first, he continued, is the matter of recognition of customary law, where customary offenses or customary criminal law is actually a characteristic of the Indonesian nation’s criminal law. Even though customary laws are different, we are still one. So the differences from one region to another must be acknowledged, so our choice is that if so, customary offenses must be included in the national criminal law system.
“We integrate customary offenses into the national legal system. But then it has to. Poured out in . Local regulations . Why local regulations? Because the so-called customary offense only applies to certain areas,” said Prof. Marcus.
Meanwhile, Chair of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia (FH UI), Dr. Surastini Fitriasih., SH, MH described several advantages of the national Criminal Code. The first is that the new Criminal Code starts from the principle of balance. Then the second is an open and limited recodification of criminal law, containing various innovations related to crime and sentencing. Next is corporate criminal responsibility, then the next one regulates absolute responsibility from strict liability and vicarious alternative criminal liability or liability .
“We’ll see, okay this principle of balance is actually reflected in the 3 main issues of criminal law, namely regarding the crime, then criminal guilt and responsibility as well as criminal and sentencing,” said Dr. Surastini . []