Experts differ on sentence on pedophile<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Experts said yesterday they basically agreed on
\nthe death sentence, but differed on the verdict handed down
\nyesterday to Siswanto, alias Robot Gedek. He was found guilty of
\nthe sexual abuse and premeditated murders of 12 boys.<\/p>\n
Criminologist Purnianti said the sentence was progress in the
\nprotection of children.<\/p>\n
"It was the final say in the interest of the victims," she
\nsaid yesterday.<\/p>\n
"A person (intending to do a similar crime) would think
\ntwice," she added. She referred to protection of children
\noutlined in the United Nations Convention on the Right of the
\nChild, which Indonesia ratified in 1990.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the victims, all street boys, had no parents and
\nwere more vulnerable, she said.<\/p>\n
A criminal code lecturer, Loebby Loqman, questioned whether
\nall necessary factors had been weighed before the sentence was
\ngiven.<\/p>\n
He said he was worried that the sentence "only reflected
\nrevenge," which should not be its purpose.<\/p>\n
"The judge might have been influenced by the vindictive outcry
\nof the public," he said.<\/p>\n
People seem vengeful, he said, even by trivial things such as
\nminor traffic accidents, in which drivers could be mobbed by
\nangry bystanders.<\/p>\n
The defendant, Loebby said, should have been given a trial
\nperiod to rehabilitate before the judge decided on the sentence.<\/p>\n
"The defendant should be given a chance for rehabilitation,"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
In the People's Republic of China, he said, judges give
\ndefendants two years before a death sentence is handed down.<\/p>\n
Loebby and Purnianti separately said that death sentences
\nshould be handed down very selectively.<\/p>\n
Purnianti said it would be "primitive" if every case which
\nevoked public anger resulted in a death sentence.<\/p>\n
A lack of selectivity would mean total distrust in laws and
\ncorrectional institutions, she said.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the controversy of the sentence, she said, "we
\nstill need the threat that a death sentence gives, even though it
\nmay not be carried out," she said.<\/p>\n
She said one requirement in handing down the sentence was that
\nthe defendant understood what he faced. Yesterday the judge
\ntried to make Robot understand with repeated explanations, to
\nwhich Robot's response was unclear. Robot's lawyers have
\nappealed.<\/p>\n
Purnianti said even though Robot has not received any
\nrehabilitation yet, "the panic he caused (among the public) could
\nnot be measured".<\/p>\n
The public would hopefully be influenced by the sentence's
\nmessage to protect children, she said, and pay more attention to
\nstreet children. (anr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/experts-differ-on-sentence-on-pedophile-1447893297",
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