Juvenile Justice Law Immediate Effect

Juvenile Justice Law Has Immediate Effect

First implementation of new Juvenile Law System in NTB.

Despite introducing a law on Juvenile Courts in 1997, Indonesia still does not have a child sensitive juvenile justice system. The criminal age of responsibility is 8 years of age, and children as young as 12 can be imprisoned. About 90% of the children sent to court are sentenced to prison, mostly for petty crimes.

Although the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Indonesia’s own 2002 Child Protection Law stipulate that detention should only be used as a last resort, imprisonment is often the first and only resort for children who have committed crimes in Indonesia.