Neglected and raped
Neglected and raped
The court has barely closed the chapter on the series of gang
rapes that shocked Jakarta this past year, now the city police
have another tough case: to catch a serial killer who preys on
young boys. The killer has left in his trail eight victims --
aged between 10 and 15 years -- over the past two years. Their
bodies were badly mutilated and most showed traces of having been
sodomized. Four of the victims still have not been identified.
Police are far from solving the mystery, but their
investigation has led to a finding that is equally horrendous:
pedophiles are lurking about our city preying on neglected
children.
Last week, a group of street children in Central Jakarta broke
their silence and told of not one, but several pedophiles who use
threats and money on the boys to satisfy their sexual urges.
Their confession led to the police questioning of four men. All
of them have since admitted that they sodomized some of these
boys, but they denied ever killing any children. But even if the
police cannot try them for the serial murders, the four men
should be prosecuted based on their admissions of sodomy.
We fully support the police efforts, and sympathize with the
difficulties encountered, in catching the serial killer. But the
investigation has again exposed many of the basic weaknesses in
our legal system when dealing with sexual crimes.
The Criminal Code does not have a specific article on sodomy.
The closest offense that prosecutors could pin on the four men in
police custody is from the Code's article 292, which makes it
illegal for anyone to engage, or be forced to engage, in sexual
relations with someone underage and of the same sex. The maximum
penalty is five years imprisonment, a punishment that hardly
suits such a heinous crime.
If that's not light enough, our court judges have shown a
tendency, for some unexplained reason, to refrain from meting out
the maximum penalty against sexual offenders. Too many convicted
rapists have gotten off lightly, and too many suspects have been
acquitted by the courts due to insufficient evidence.
The police themselves have also admitted that they have had
difficulty cracking the current serial-killer case, not only for
lack of evidence but because this is no ordinary killer. As one
officer privately put it, police are not experienced in handling
this kind of case. For nearly two years police have been in the
dark about the killings. Not until the young boys began to speak
up last week did they have a clue.
Success in solving sexual crime cases hinges largely on
victims coming forward to tell their story. Many victims of
sexual crimes, including pedophilia, understandably are too
traumatized to come forward. Acquittals of rape suspects and the
light punishments given to sexual offenders further discourage
the victims from going public.
If the series of gang rapes over the past year showed that the
legal system is weak when it comes to protecting women against
sexual crimes, the current search for the serial killer suggests
that the system is also failing to protect children, especially
wayward street children.
Something must be done. This is not solely the responsibility
of the police and the courts. Society must take part in the
effort to stamp out sexual crimes against women and children.
Furthermore, the House of Representatives should move quickly to
amend the laws dealing with offenders and legislate punishment
more commensurate with their crimes.