Jakarta – Indonesia's amended law on juvenile offenders has finally begun to take effect after its passage two years ago, and is expected to ensure that young offenders are dealt with fairly and appropriately.

Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar, the minister for women's empowerment and child protection, said on Sunday that the law introduced two new paradigms into Indonesia's legal system for juvenile offenders: restorative justice, and diversion.

"Restorative justice carries the message that we must keep on attempting to settle crimes involving [young] perpetrators [...] by placing emphasizing the need to restore the initial situation rather than the need for vengeance," she said as she commented on the law's coming into force on Sunday.

"This should involve the perpetrators, victims, the families of the perpetrators and the victims, and other relevant parties to sit together to find a just resolution [to crimes committed by minors]."

Diversion, meanwhile, means that efforts to settle criminal cases involving juvenile offenders outside the court must be maximized, and that taking a case to court and jailing young offenders must be the option of last resort, Linda said.

"This law authorizes law enforcers to conduct diversion, a measure decided on in line with existing situations. Children's rights must be upheld with pure conscience," she said.

"This law upholds the principle of [looking after] the best interests of the kids, giving them protection and appreciation, [guaranteeing] their livelihood and development, as well as protecting them from retaliatory actions."

Linda said that juvenile offenders should be treated differently from adult criminals, adding that the former were "not an adult in a smaller body."

"[Children's] capacity to understand legal offenses is still limited; some of their actions that might constitute legal offenses are beyond the range of their understanding," she said. The Law on the Judiciary System for Juvenile Crimes was passed in July 2012, replacing legislation from 1997.

Diani Sadia Wati, the director of regulatory analysis at the National Development Planning Agency, or Bappenas, which drafted the changes to the law, said they were introduced because the old law failed to protect children's rights during the legal process.

The old law, Diani said, employed "overly legalistic" approaches in criminal cases involving juveniles and focused on punishing minors with imprisonment rather than seeking other forms of sanctions.

The new law described juveniles as those aged 18 or less, married or not – another change from the old law, which automatically rescinded the offender's juvenile status if they were already married.

The Indonesian Commission for Child Protection, or KPAI, is tasked with overseeing the enforcement of the new law.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/juvenile-offenders-law-ushers-new-means-dispensing-justice/