Asperhupiki strengthens lecturers' understanding of new Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code

The Indonesian Association of Criminal Law and Criminology Lecturers (Asperhupiki) is strengthening the understanding of lecturers and researchers regarding the new Criminal Code (KUHP) and Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP).

“Many members of the public may not yet know that there are now changed regulations,” said Asperhupiki Chairman Fachrizal Afandi PhD in Semarang on Friday.

He made the remarks at the National Workshop on the new KUHP and KUHAP: Aligning the Basic Ideas of Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code Reform in Realising Sentencing Alternatives in Indonesia, held at the Faculty of Law, Diponegoro University, Semarang.

“We now have a new paradigm; law enforcement is no longer oriented solely towards retaliating against crime, retributive, but also towards restoration and rehabilitation,” he said.

For this reason, he said, Asperhupiki needs to strengthen lecturers in understanding and interpreting the new KUHP and KUHAP, which affect the interests of the wider public.

He explained that the workshop on the new KUHP and KUHAP organised by Asperhupiki has been held three times since early 2026.

“This is the third cohort. The first was at the Faculty of Law, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, then the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia, and this third one is at the Faculty of Law, Diponegoro University,” he said.

The workshop was attended by 100 lecturers from various universities across Indonesia, while Asperhupiki currently has around 500 members spread from Sabang to Merauke.

Meanwhile, Diponegoro University criminal law expert Professor Pujiyono said the workshop stemmed from the idea of maintaining alignment of understanding regarding the new KUHP and KUHAP.

Therefore, he said, a good effort of alignment and understanding is needed, especially among academics who will teach the KUHP and KUHAP to their students.

According to him, the reform of the KUHP and KUHAP is not merely patchwork, but constitutes an extraordinary reconstruction of the legal system through two approaches, namely elasticity and balance.

He cited the application of the principle of balance, namely in determining an act as a criminal offence not only from what is written in the law, but also from the law that lives in society.

“So, formal balance and material balance. Likewise, the principle of elasticity. So far, if we look at a criminal offence, the threat is always imprisonment. Imprisonment is always applied so that prisons are full,” he said.

With the principle of elasticity, he said, there are sentencing guidelines that allow the substitution of imprisonment with supervisory sentences, for example social work sentences or fines.