The Restitution Payment for the Child Victims of Sexual Crime or Violence Borne by the State

Abstract

Children are individuals who are still frail in terms of physic, economy, and knowledge hence they are still easily swayed by the environment and easily exploited by people who have advantages in physic, economy, and knowledge resulting in children in conflict or facing the law. Children in conflict or facing the law can be divided into children who are perpetrators of crimes, children who become victims of crimes, and children who become witnesses in criminal acts. Children are often victims of crime or sexual violence within the family, school, and neighborhood. Being a victim of sexual violence harms victims, such as the emergence of hopelessness, inferiority, lack of confidence, stress, and prolonged trauma. The Law of The Republic of Indonesia No. 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection protects victims by providing child victims the right to compensation or restitution, including child victims of sexual crimes/violence. This study employed an empirical legal approach. This article is aimed to perceive how the process of child victims applying for restitution rights to court and how the imposition of restitution can be effective for child victims of crime or sexual violence. The compensation or restitution for child victims of sexual crime or violence is submitted to the court through the Indonesian Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) and for the imposition of restitution to be effective, property belonging to the accused must be confiscated which will later be auctioned off as a calculation of compensation or restitution to be given to the child victims.