Pandemic As a Crime Factor: Reason Mitigating or Aggravating Penal? (The Reflection Post Covid-19 in Indonesia)

Abstract

Crime is part of the form of human behavior and will continue to develop following the dynamics of human life and civilization. There’s no exception that the Covid-19 pandemic that hit the world also had an impact on Indonesia. The impact is not only in the sphere of human health but also in the sphere of social life, including changes in human habits and behavior. Various Indonesian government policies to reduce the spread of Covid-19, such as restrictions on activities outside the home, to prisoner assimilation policies have also influenced changes in human behavior and the economic condition of the community which can be a potential change in the form and rate of crime. Crime will not be separated from the problem of criminal law and punishment, especially modern criminal law that is oriented to the perpetrator and the deed (daad-dader straafrecht) or also known as penal individualization. One of the characteristics of penal individualization is that the crime must be adapted to the characteristics and conditions of the perpetrator, which is elaborated with the view of the ecology school in criminology, a person’s evil deeds are influenced by the environment of the perpetrator (external factors). It becomes a question, is the pandemic condition a factor of crime, or is it a reason for aggravating or mitigating crime for criminals? To answer this question, the author uses a juridical/normative research approach, and it is found that the Covid-19 pandemic as a national disaster can become a mitigating circumstance and aggravating circumstances, in the form of Judicial Mitigating and Aggravating Circumstances.
 Keywords: Covid-19, punishment, Indonesia, criminal law, mitigating-aggravating penal