Social Work Punishment in the 2023 Indonesian Criminal Code: Lessons from Finland and Netherlands

Abstract

This study aims to examine alternative non-custodial punishments under the 2023 Criminal Code, including community service, along with its regulations and the potential for it to become unenforceable upon implementation of the 2023 Criminal Code. The incorporation of social work as a punitive measure in the 2023 Criminal Code, designed as a utilitarian and legally certain alternative penalty, presents several significant concerns, including: a. According to judicial rulings under the 2023 Criminal Code, judges are not required to specify the precise social work activities to be performed by the convicted individual or the location where they are to be executed. b. The social work obligations imposed by the judge in the court ruling must be completed by the convicted individual, without consideration of the potential repercussions for non-compliance. Consequently, a convicted individual, although failing to fulfil the mandated social work obligations, is not automatically deemed to have breached these obligations. c. Concerning the extent of social work obligations that may be assigned to condemned individuals, the 2023 Criminal Code solely stipulates that the execution of social work penalties must remain non-commercialized. The 2023 Criminal Code does not elaborate on the types of social work activities that may be mandated by a court for individuals sentenced to death; it merely offers examples of venues where such activities may occur. In contrast to the Netherlands and Finland, these three elements are governed by the Dutch Criminal Code and the Finnish Criminal Code, which mandate that the court's ruling must encompass details about social work activities and the circumstances under which the convicted individual is prohibited from engaging in social work