Government told to settle cases of juvenile crime lawfully

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A government-funded children's organization urged the government on Wednesday to follow the due process of law for children implicated in crimes.

"Some 95 percent of criminal cases involving children were settled without the presence of attorneys or adult family members," said Fachri Bey, deputy head of the Pra Yuwana child protection organization.

The organization's records showed that 11,344 children across the country were charged with crimes last year, 4,325 of whom were taken to court.

Law No. 3/1997 on judiciary for children stipulates only that children between eight and 18 years of age are fit to stand trial.

Fachri said Pra Yuwana counselors found many cases in which the parents of children charged with crimes rejected legal representation during their investigation and trial processes.

"The parents, most of whom are uneducated, were advised by either police officers or prosecutors to exclude attorneys from the cases, as they offered backroom deals," Fachri said on the sidelines of a seminar on juvenile laws.

Pra Yuwana provides pro bono legal counsel for children implicated in crimes.

Unfortunately, most judges also neglected children's rights to legal representation.

"They often speed up criminal trials involving children. Some courts have even delivered verdicts within half an hour.

"But the saddest thing is that children have been sentenced up to six years in jail after only a 30-minute hearing without being given the chance to defend themselves," he said.

Mustofa, a criminologist at the University of Indonesia, regretted the country's judiciary for neglecting to abide by the law, which requires children's organizations to represent juveniles at court.

"They also tend to impose physical sanctions, such as jail terms, rather than ... an educational program to mend their behavior," he said.

Once children are convicted, they serve out their sentences at over-crowded juvenile prisons, although many have to share cells with adult criminals.

There are only 16 juvenile prisons in Indonesia, most of which are filled to over-capacity, with government data showing there are 16,000 juveniles in prisons across the country. In Tangerang, for example, 365 juvenile inmates are serving sentences at a prison with a capacity for 160.

"It is no wonder child inmates must share their rations. A portion of rice for one child must be shared by five to six children who are at the peak of their growth period," Fachri said.

He said other child inmates were unfortunate, as they had to serve their jail terms in adult prisons.

"It is very common that children are jailed in adult penitentiaries, where children end up learning from adult inmates," Fachri said, adding that such children were also prone to abuse.

Wiyono, director of public development at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, acknowledged the government's failure to provide enough juvenile prisons.

"But we never intended this to be the case. It's force majeure," he said, but did not elaborate.