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House to deliberate alternative forms of punishment in Criminal Code
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Indonesian Military (TNI) and police personnel guard the Wijaya Pura Dock area of Nusakambangan Prison Island in Cilacap, Central Java. (JP/Agus Maryono)
T
he House of Representatives’ working committee for the amendment of the Criminal Code (KUHP) is looking into alternative forms of punishment in addition to imprisonment.
“The alternative punishment could be in the form of community service or fines instead of putting all criminals behind bars. It could be applied to crimes in which the [sentence] is one year or less in prison,” committee member Arsul Sani of the United Development Party (PPP) said as quoted by kompas.com.
The alternative punishment, he added, would be a way to reform to the country’s criminal justice system.
Arsul said another option was partial imprisonment, whereby the convicts would stay in jail three days a week while partaking in community service on the other days.
“They could work at nursing homes or as public service cleaners. We’ll discuss the specific concepts with the government during the amendment deliberation,” Arsul said.
Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly told the House recently about unresolved prison overcapacity problems. He revealed that between January and March this year, the country saw an addition of 12,000 convicts.
Yasonna said alternative forms of punishment could solve the overcapacity problem and save hundreds of millions of rupiah in the state budget. (foy)
