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)