Government to establish juvenile court
Government to establish juvenile court
JAKARTA (JP): The government yesterday initiated moves towards establishing a juvenile court, a long awaited move because child delinquents at present are being tried in district courts.
Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman submitted a bill on juvenile courts, and another on territorial waters, during a plenary session of the House of Representatives chaired by Deputy Speaker Soetedjo.
In the making since 1979, the bill on juvenile courts provides legal protection to delinquent youths facing trial.
Oetojo said the bill was drafted because Indonesia was facing enormous problems in developing its young people.
"Many juveniles from lower, middle and high class families behave erratically and sometimes break laws," he said. "Many children are neglected and cannot satisfy their physical, psychological and social needs," he said.
The bill grants juveniles special status, on the grounds that they cannot account for their criminal actions.
The whole process, from their arrest, questioning, trial and subsequent guidance in the detention houses will be handled by special personnel as stipulated in the bill.
"This is to ensure that he accused receive proper treatment as under-age delinquent detainees," the minister said.
In the absence of special juvenile courts, juvenile delinquency cases have been tried in ordinary district courts. However, the authorities have tried to protect children by declaring all court trials involving young people closed proceedings, which mean they cannot be reported by the media.
Judges trying the cases are also compelled to take off their black robes to make the atmosphere less intimidating to young suspects. A child must also be accompanied by a social worker and a lawyer.
Yet in the absence of juvenile courts or juvenile law, police often decide not to prosecute young people, especially if they are first time offenders. Most are simply returned to their parents with a caution.
Maximum penalty
Under the Criminal Code, the maximum penalty for a child defendant is one third of the maximum term that can be meted out to adults. If a child is proven guilty of violating a crime which carries the death penalty or a life sentence, the defendant can't be sentenced to more than 15 years.
The bill on territorial waters is intended to strengthen Indonesia's position as an archipelagic state as referred to by the United Nations 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Oetojo said Indonesia needs a law on territorial waters to protect the vast marine resources of its waters which make up about two-third of its total territory.
He said the future law will overrule the existing sea-related laws enacted during the Dutch colonial era, which no longer suit modern Indonesia's interests.
The bill is a follow-up to the 1957 Juanda Declaration, with which Indonesia claimed sovereignty over all the sea and its sources that lie between the islands in the archipelago. In the latest survey, more than 17,000 islands were counted in Indonesia.
The declaration won international recognition with the 1982 convention, which formally went into effect last year.
Indonesia also claimed a 20-mile zone of sovereignty over the sea surrounding the archipelago and a 200-mile economic exclusion zone. Indonesia is currently negotiating a demarcation line in the seas where it has overlapping territorial claims with Australia and Vietnam. (pan)