Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Experts argued that the minimum criminal prosecution age of eight years is too young and must be amended, during a judicial review of the controversial juvenile court law at the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.
"Children who commit crimes should not be automatically charged under the Criminal Code," Surastini, a law lecturer from the University of the Indonesia, told the court.
She said that under the existing juvenile court law, eight-to 18-year-olds could be convicted of crime and sent to juvenile detention centers.
"The minimum age regulation in the law, which is eight years old, is too low. People of that age are growing and prone to mental disturbances. They need protection," Surastini said. Serious legal charges handed down to children of that age could have a lasting effect on their future, she added.
In December last year, the National Commission for Child Protection filed a judicial review to amend the minimum age. The 1997 law stipulates that the Criminal Code applies to anyone above the age of eight.
The commission, citing a world convention on children's rights, said that a child was anyone below 15 years old.
The petitioners also demanded Article 31 of the 1997 law, which regulates the establishment of special detention centers for children, be scrapped. "It is a violation of a child's constitutional right to be detained without legal cause," Masnah said, head of the commission, said.
The juvenile court system has been under fire recently following several cases that have seen children tried in court for minor offenses. The House of Representatives is currently formulating a bill to replace the law.
The expert testimonies at the court encouraged optimism among the petitioners. Masnah Sari, said Wednesday she was optimistic the court would approve their petition.
"Developments during the hearing so far have convinced me that what we requested is right. Most of the experts, both from our side and from the government, presented opinions before the panel of nine judges that the article on the minimum age to face legal charges must be revised," she told The Jakarta Post.
Last month, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono proposed the creation of a special decree on child offenders that would grant a presidential pardon to 42 juvenile inmates in the country.