UNS — Moot Court Community (MCC) of the Faculty of Law (FH) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held a national webinar on “Implementation of Restorative Justice in Narcotics Cases Against Personal Narcotics Abuse.”
The webinar is an effort to disseminate information concerning actual legal issues for the community. Three speakers were invited to the national webinar, Dr. Muhammad Rustamaji (FH UNS Faculty Member), Galuh Wahyu Kumalasari, M.H. (Tais District Court Judge), and Arga Adhitya Wardhana, S.H. (District/City National Narcotics Agency Eradication Investigator (BNNK) Surakarta).
The Chief of the MCC Research Division, Lefri Mikhael, stated that the theme was selected to educate the community with accurate and detailed information regarding restorative justice from a professional and academic point of view. Restorative justice is a vital aspect in a criminal proceeding as a part of progressive law in settlement of criminal cases of personal narcotics abuse. “Restorative justice also becomes the answer for the ineffectiveness of jail time for personal narcotics abuse cases,” Lefri explained.
Dr. Muhammad Rustamaji, as the first speaker provides a conceptual explanation of restorative justice. He argued that restorative justice is an implementation of the principle of fast, simple, and low-cost justice. He also added that restorative justice could place jail time as an ultimum remedium or the final punishment after rehabilitation is out of the option. “This means that jail time could be applied in the context of personal narcotics abuse cases,” he explained between the webinar on Saturday (5/2/2022).
The next material was delivered by Galuh Wahyu Kumalasari, M.H., who stated that the restorative justice concept in personal narcotics abuse proceedings is accommodated by the Supreme Court (MA) as one of the highest judicial institutions in Indonesia. Restorative justice is also regulated in the Director-General of the General Court of Justice Decree (Badilum) Number 1691/DJU/SK/PS.00/12/2020 regarding the Guidelines for Restorative Justice in Legal Proceeding. Galuh mentioned that restorative justice could be applied in assessing a case after considering several parameters. “If rehabilitation is applied, the judge needs to be assertive and clear in selecting the closest rehabilitation site in their verdict, (and) the duration of rehabilitation process considering the convict’s level of addiction.” However, Galuh considers that restorative justice has not been fully implemented due to the lack of medical staff that could handle narcotics rehabilitation.
The last speaker, Arga Adhitya Wardhana, S.H., discussed the implementation of restorative justice at the investigation level. He stated that rehabilitation as an implementation of restorative justice is in line with the Prevention, Eradication of Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking Program (Program P4GN) applied by the government through the Indonesian National Narcotics Agency (BNN). However, restorative justice could not be implemented in the investigation process due to the absence of a legal basis in BNN. Therefore, restorative justice is implemented at the prosecution level. He also added that BNN Surakarta, through an integrated assessment, had provided suggestions on whether a drug addict could be rehabilitated.
The webinar attended by 200 participants was closed with a campaign to avoid drugs and suggest those who were trapped in the abuse take proactive steps and apply for rehabilitation before being caught by law enforcement. Humas UNS
Reporter: Bayu Aji Prasetya
Editor: Dwi Hastuti