Constitutional Protection For Crime Victims And Witnesses In Indonesia And Its Problems

Abstract

The constitutional protections toward crime witnesses in Indonesia are indisputably inevitable. As an effort to uphold justice, Indonesia relies on the formal mechanism of criminal law known as the criminal justice system. The system starts from reports by the police, prosecution by the prosecutor, to the stage of a trial in a court, and execution in a prison. Throughout its development, the criminal justice system seemed to focus more on protecting criminal offenses (criminal oriented) rather than paying attention to the rights of witnesses and victims (witness and victim-oriented). Therefore, the studies that concern the rights of witnesses and victims are highly needed in order to figure out ways to balance the treatment between the suspects/defendants and the witnesses and victims. Through the use of the statue approach and conceptual approach, the positions and the rights of legal protection for witnesses and victims are thoroughly captured and described in this current research. Besides, the factors causing uneven attention and unfair treatment toward crime victims are also specifically identified.