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VOL. 11, ISSUE 9 (2025)
Judges’ forgiveness in criminal law in Indonesia
Authors
Luh Oki Damayanti
Abstract
One of the much-needed
articles of the Indonesian criminal law reform has been included in the Draft
Criminal Code (RKUHP) of 2019, namely Article 54 concerning the concept of
"Judge's Forgiveness (Rechterlijke Pardon). This is because the Criminal
Code that is still in effect today is considered very rigid and only oriented
towards retaliation for perpetrators of criminal acts. As a result, many minor
cases that should have been resolved amicably are actually subject to criminal
sanctions that are not in accordance with the actions that have been taken and
the various values that exist in society. In the realm of practice, the
existence of the concept of judicial forgiveness will allow judges to take a
middle path or as an emergency door in deciding the law on a case they are
facing. The question is what are the dimensions of the value of judicial
forgiveness in criminal law in Indonesia. Judicial forgiveness is formulated as
follows (1) the suitability of the concept of judicial forgiveness with the values
of religious teachings that encourage an attitude of forgiveness, (2) the
concept of judicial forgiveness that upholds the values of the cultural
wisdom of the Indonesian people, namely the culture of forgiveness in various
regions of Indonesia whose implementation has been regulated by each community,
(3) the concept judicial forgiveness that does not prioritize revenge for the
perpetrator of the crime, but rather focuses more on humanitarian values by
considering the condition of the perpetrator and the actions of the criminal,
and (4) the concept of judicial forgiveness that can make the law more flexible
and feel fair, namely not imposing sanctions on the grounds of the
perpetrator's condition and on the basis of considerations of humanity and justice.
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Pages:16-18
How to cite this article:
Luh Oki Damayanti "Judges’ forgiveness in criminal law in Indonesia". International Journal of Law, Vol 11, Issue 9, 2025, Pages 16-18
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