Author
Dr Nathalina Naibaho
Organisation/Institution
Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Law
Country
INDONESIA
Panel
Criminal Law
Title
Application of Alternative Sanctions: Reshaping the Justification of Punishment from Indonesia's New Penal Code (KUHP 2023)
Abstract
The issue of sentencing and punishment in the 2023 Criminal Code, which will take effect in January 2026, responds to emerging issues related to the shift in the paradigm of punishment from retributive to rehabilitative and resocialisation, overcrowding of correctional institutions, the negative impact of deprivation of liberty, issues of discrimination and corruption in the correctional institutions, high budgets, and issues of disparity in sentencing. The advantages of the 2023 Criminal Code are the availability of alternative sanctions such as supervision sentence, fine, social work sentence, intermittent prison sentence (conditional punishment/ probation), judicial pardon and even and the fulfilment of obligations under traditional customs. In the 2023 Criminal Code, imprisonment can be replaced by a fine and the fine can be replaced by supervision or social work. Some of these alternative sanctions were originally intended for juvenile justice, but are now available for adults for offences where the blameworthiness and the harm/damage are not too great, even for minor drug offences or for drugs users. Alternatives to imprisonment are efforts that can be taken to reduce overcrowding in Indonesian detention centers and correctional institutions and intended to be forms of sanction, whether punishments or treatments, taken in a legal proceeding which require the performance by the offender without involving imprisonment. It can take forms such as probation, community service, electronic monitoring, fine, prohibition to be in designated places, and suspension of the court order. The experiences of various countries show that alternatives to imprisonment have been successful at reducing incarceration rates. The forms of alternatives to imprisonment include probation, fine, rehabilitation, warning, conditional sentence, vocational training, institutional education, and limitation of movement. The effectiveness and implementation of various alternatives to imprisonment will very much depend on the clarity of provisions and the various supporting factors.
Biography
Nathalina Naibaho is a permanent lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia. Currently teaching criminal law and human rights law courses and doing research, publication, community engagement and empowerment activities on criminal law and human rights law issues. She was a visiting scholar in Human Rights Center (SIM) and Willem Pompe Institute in Utrecht University, visiting fellowship in Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, and alumni of ASLI Fellow in Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. She is a member of SEAHRN (Southeast Asia Human Rights and Peace Studies Network) and she was the member of Research Committee of SHAPE-SEA (Strengthening Human Rights and Peace Education in Southeast Asia) hosted by IHRP Studies, Mahidol University. She is now the head of Criminal Law Department and member of Human Rights Study Center (Sentra HAM-Djokosoetono Research Center) in the Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia. She is a member of Griffith Criminology Institute on Victims, Citizenship, and Justice, an International Research Collaborative (IRC) auspice by the US Law and Society Association (LSA), Australia, and member of Law and Society Association Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ). She is now a managing editor in Indonesia Criminal Law Review (ICLR) in Faculty of Law UI, associate editor and reviewer in selected law journals and member of Association of Criminal Law and Criminology Lecturer (ASPERHUPIKI) Indonesia.
