Abstract
Indonesia recognizes the grounds of pardon in criminal law as stipulated in Article 44 of the Criminal Code (KUHP). One of the conditions that may be subjected to grounds of pardon is when the perpetrator of a criminal act is a person with a mental disorder, including schizophrenia. The consequence of this situation is that the perpetrator of a criminal act must be declared irresponsible for his actions and released from all criminal charges. However, in practice, the panel of judges would find the defendant with schizophrenia remain guilty since the judge would disregard the medical records or statements from psychiatric experts as evidence at trial. This article analyzes 2 Supreme Court Decisions, namely Supreme Court Decision No. 46 PK/Pid.Sus/2010 and Decision No. 94-K/PM.II-09/AD/V/2016. This research uses a normative juridical method. This research discusses the implementation of criminal sentences for persons with schizophrenia by confronting between field practices that remain sentencing persons with schizophrenia. Legal protections that able to be carried out by the state include terminating the prosecution, utilizing psychiatrists' statements as the basis for decisions, and deciding on defendants with acquittal decisions which in practice are not often found. This research concludes that legal protection for people with schizophrenia in Indonesia stays incongruent with the principles of criminal law and violates the principle of protecting the rights of the defendant. Law enforcement officials are remaining disregarding Article 44 of the Criminal Code by continuing to sentence, even executing people with schizophrenia who commit criminal acts even though there is a statement from a psychiatrist as valid evidence.
Highlights
In Indonesia, people with mental disorders have the grounds of relief namely grounds of justification and grounds of pardon (Sulaihah et al, 2020)
Article 73 of Law Number 18 of 2014 concerning Mental Health, which can examine mental conditions for the sake of law enforcement is a specialist in mental medicine and/or clinical psychologists so that only the psychiatric experts mentioned in the two regulations are allowed to assess mental conditions
Based on the discussions that have been described, it can be seen that the implementation of criminal law protection for Persons with Schizophrenia in Indonesia is still far from the statutory provisions, criminal law principles, and international law provisions that have been ratified by the Indonesian Government
Summary
In Indonesia, people with mental disorders (hereinafter referred to as ODGJ) have the grounds of relief namely grounds of justification and grounds of pardon (Sulaihah et al, 2020). The negative labeling carried out by law enforcers obscures their consideration of the mental condition of the convicts which is a condition for being responsible for criminal acts (Munkner et al, 2003) This is an example of a violation of the rights of persons with schizophrenia as persons with mental disabilities need to be released from stigma in the form of negative labeling of their disability as regulated in Article 7 of Law Number 8 of 2016 concerning persons with disabilities. Based on this problem, the main purpose of this study is to analyze and describe what and how the regulations regarding the punishment of Persons with Schizophrenia should be based on the perspective of criminal law. This analysis needs to be supported by other relevant legal arrangements and legal protection for Persons with Schizophrenia in relation to the ability to be criminally responsible in accordance with Article 44 of the Criminal Code
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