Some argue that the Child Criminal Justice System Law unfairly imposes penalties on minors who commit sexual violence, as they perceive the legal proceedings against them to be less severe than those against adults. This creates the perception that the application of justice in cases of sexual violence is not taken seriously if the perpetrators are children.
Regulations in Indonesia that govern the legal protection process for children are stipulated in the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 11 of 2012 concerning the Juvenile Criminal Justice System. The age category of child offenders in the law is that the child is at least 12 years old and not yet 18 years old. Children who commit sexual violence within that age range, in the application of the legal process, must adhere to the Child Criminal Justice System Law from the pre-adjudication, adjudication, to post-adjudication phases. This raises questions about the justice and proportionality of the punishment, referring to the restorative justice approach often applied in cases involving children in conflict with the law. Several criticisms have emerged regarding this approach, which no longer differentiates between types of crimes and adjusts punishments according to the severity of the actions against child perpetrators of sexual violence, especially if their actions demonstrate cruelty resulting in the victim's death. For example, in the handling of a child in conflict with the law in a sexual violence case that occurred a few months ago in the city of Palembang, where a 13-year-old victim lost her life after being molested by four perpetrators who were also still children aged 12 to 17 years. The court judge sentenced the main perpetrator, a 17-year-old child, to 10 years in prison at the Class I Special Child Development Institution in Palembang, while the other three children, all under 14 years old, were subjected to 1 year of care at the Dharmapala Inderalaya Ogan Ilir Social Welfare Institution, South Sumatra, Indonesian. This certainly raises pros and cons as well as criticism in society, where in other cases, children as victims often face heavy social stigma and can be hindered in seeking justice. The shame associated with the label received by the victim makes it difficult for them to obtain legal protection and the attention needed to recover their situation. Sometimes, existing regulations place more emphasis on a restorative justice approach for child perpetrators of sexual violence but are biased against the impact experienced by the victims. Victims often experience long-term trauma, which can affect their physical and psychological development. Therefore, it is important to consider rehabilitation and psychological support for victims within the juvenile criminal justice system.
The implementation of punishment for child perpetrators of sexual violence in Indonesia still faces many challenges, thus requiring reform in the juvenile criminal justice system to ensure that the punishment imposed is proportional to the crime committed while providing maximum protection to the victims. In addition, understanding and socialization regarding the handling of children in conflict with the law must be further improved, especially for law enforcement officers, so that they can handle cases like this using a restorative justice approach that not only focuses on the rehabilitation of the child perpetrator of sexual violence but also on the recovery and rehabilitation of the child victim of sexual violence.
