Mob justice increases as people lose faith in justice system
Mob justice increases as people lose faith in justice system
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Incidents of mob justice have become almost daily occurrences
in Jakarta, as residents frustrated with a justice system that is
seen as anything but just take the law into their own hands to
mete out harsh punishments on suspected criminals.
The latest incident took place last Tuesday, in the Billymoon
housing complex in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta. A group of
residents mobbed to death Kristian, 35, and severely injured
Arifin, 32 and Solihin, 28, after they found the three allegedly
trying to rob a house.
This month alone, four similar mob attacks have taken place in
the capital, all ending in fatalities. One of these incidents was
instigated by a small quarrel between street vendors.
A simple accusatory cry against a person on the street is
often enough to provoke a mob attack, regardless of the facts or
evidence.
Ery Seda, a sociologist at the University of Indonesia, blames
uncertainties in the norms and values prevailing in society
today, coupled with political instability, for the recent rise in
street justice.
"People continue to repeat such violent actions because there
have been no sanctions (social or legal) or any actions to stop
or prevent such acts from recurring," Ery told The Jakarta Post.
Ery said public distrust of the legal system, which has failed
to punish criminals, has prompted the public to take the law into
their own hands.
However, he warned that street justice must be stopped,
because it posed a threat to social integration.
"People will become suspicious of each other and will judge
each other. This situation will lead to social disintegration and
chaos," Ery remarked.
Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, a criminologist at the University of
Indonesia, associated "vigilante justice" with public frustration
with the legal system.
"People turn (to vigilante justice) as an outlet for their
overwhelming anger toward an unworkable legal system, especially
with respect to the failure of the legal system to deal with
high-profile cases," Harkristuti said.
The victims of mob violence, Harkristuti said, are simply
replacement targets through which people are channeling their
hatred for big criminals, including corruptors who were acquitted
of all charges in legal proceedings that disregarded the public
sense of justice.
Agreeing with Ery, Harkristuti said this mob violence had to
be stopped before it did serious damage to society.
"This kind of action is unhealthy as it is prone to
manipulation," said Harkristuti.
He remarked that groups could manipulate mobs to instigate
violence against their rivals or to achieve their own interests.
And punishment without trial, Harkristuti said, ignores the
idea of the presumption of innocence and the right of people to
defend themselves in a court of law and receive a sentence in
accordance with the law.
"Taking the law into your own hands through the use of
violence is simply a crime and is against the law," said
Harkristuti.
He said mob violence violated Article 170 of the Criminal
Code, which carries at maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.
Commenting on a number of incidents in which the police
appeared to be powerless to prevent mobs from killing alleged
criminals, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam
admitted officers often were outnumbered and powerless to help
the victims of mob attacks.
"It has become characteristic for people to be easily
instigated to violence," Anton said.
He added that the police also found it difficult to gather
sufficient evidence and locate witnesses in order to arrest and
try those involved in the mob attacks.
However, he said the police had arrested a number of people
who had taken the law into their own hands.
"We took legal action against them as what they did was simply
criminal," Anton told the Post, though he failed to say exactly
how many such cases the police had handled.