MAHUPIKI and Legal Experts Affirm New Criminal Code Concrete Evidence Government Creates Certainty in Criminal Law
Padang – Chairperson of the Executive Board of the Center for Criminal Law and Criminology Society (MAHUPIKI) Yenti Garnasih said the socialization of the New Criminal Code which was legalized on December 6 was an important thing and absolutely needed to be done to people in all regions.
The new Criminal Code that has been ratified is concrete evidence and goodwill from the government to create legal certainty in criminal law.
This was disclosed by Mahupiki Chairperson Yenti Garnasih when she was a resource person for the socialization of the Criminal Code which was held in collaboration with Mahupiki and Andalas University West Sumatra at the Santika Premiere Hotel Padang West Sumatra, Wednesday (11/1/2022).
Yenti Garnarsih said the government’s socialization efforts to create certainty in the criminal law contained in the new Criminal Code should be appreciated because the socialization was carried out by regions in Indonesia until it is enforced later in the next 3 years.
According to Yenti Garnasih, there are a number of advantages of the new Criminal Code, including: starting from the principle of balance, Open and limited Criminal Law Recodification, Purpose of Punishment, Sentence Guidelines, 11 considerations for judges before imposing a sentence, Determination of criminal sanctions with the Modified Delphi Method, Decision Forgiveness By Judge (Judicial Pardon), Corporate criminal responsibility, Prioritizing lighter principal crimes, Expansion of the main criminal types (Supervision and Social Work, Division of Criminal and Actions into 3 groups (general, children, corporation), Criminal fines are regulated in 8 category, Regulates the imposition of conditional capital punishment as a middle ground for pros and cons of capital punishment, Prevents the imposition of imprisonment for TP Max 5 Years, Regulates alternatives to imprisonment in the form of fines, criminal supervision, and social work punishment, Regulates Two-track Punishment, namely in the form of Criminal & Actions, Regulating Absolute Liability (Strict Liability) & War Substitute responsibility (Vicarious Liability).
Punishment aims to prevent the commission of a crime by upholding legal norms for the protection and protection of the community, socializing convicts by providing guidance and guidance so that they become good and useful people, resolving conflicts caused by criminal acts, restoring balance, bringing a sense of security and peace in society, growing a sense of remorse and freeing the guilt of the convict, said Yenti Garnasih.
Article 53 of the new Criminal Code concerning sentencing guidelines states that judges are obliged to uphold law and justice. In addition, if there is a conflict between legal certainty and justice, judges must prioritize justice, said Mahupiki Chairperson.
Meanwhile, in the same place, Professor of the Faculty of Law, Semarang State University, Prof. Dr. R Benny Riyanto SH, MH CN, said that the urgency of replacing the Criminal Code (WvS) with the National Criminal Code or Criminal Code only had 4 arguments, including: first, there was a paradigm shift, from the paradigm of justice Retributive (revenge with corporal punishment), being Corrective Justice (For Perpetrators), Restorative Justice (For Victims), Rehabilitative Justice (For Perpetrators and Victims), secondly, mandate according to TAP MPR II/MPR/1993 concerning GBHN, Law 17 years 2007 concerning the RPJPN, thirdly, Politically the Criminal Code Law (WvS) does not reflect the nation’s cultural values or the basic philosophy of the State, namely Pancasila, and fourthly, it is an embodiment of the Reform of the National Criminal Law system as a whole based on: Pancasila Values Nation’s Culture and Human Rights as a whole universal.
Prof. Benny ensured that the Government had held discussions and coordinated with relevant Ministries/Institutions, professional organizations, academics, practitioners, experts, and community elements in discussing the substances and materials regulated in the new Criminal Code.
Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Harkristuti Harkrisnowo SH MA said that the new Criminal Code has a number of actual issues including: Living law, Abortion, Contraception, Adultery, Cohabitation, Obscene acts, Crimes against religion or beliefs, Crimes related to freedom of expression.
There was a debate about that article on adultery and cohabitation. So, we bridge the liberal and religious groups. In that article, a raid is carried out if there is a complaint against a legal partner. This is to limit so that not everyone makes complaints, said Prof. Harkristuti
Prof. Harkristuti said that his own sanction for the crime of adultery is a criminal sanction of 1 year in prison or a criminal fine. Category II (max 10 million). As for the crime of cohabitation, the sanction is 6 months in prison or a category II fine (max 10 million).
Obscene acts will be punished if obscene acts are committed in public, are carried out with violence or threats of violence, are published as pornographic content. Meanwhile, obscene acts carried out in closed/private spaces, without violence and not for pornographic material, are not punished, said Professor of Criminal Law at UI.
