Policy Formulation of Expiration Date for the Crime of Murder in Indonesian Criminal Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25139/lex.v4i2.10783Keywords:
Statute of Limitations, Murder, Formulation Policy, Criminal LawAbstract
Murder constitutes a grave crime against human life, regulated under Articles 338–340 of the Indonesian Penal Code (KUHP), with far-reaching impacts on individuals, families, and society. Within Indonesian criminal law, the statute of limitations, as governed by Article 78 of the KUHP and Article 136 of Law No. 1 of 2023, serves as a factor that may extinguish the right to prosecute, including for murder cases. This study aims to analyze the policy formulation of the statute of limitations for murder under the KUHP and Law No. 1 of 2023, as well as its implications for justice and human rights (HR), employing criminal law policy theory and punishment theory as analytical frameworks. Employing a normative legal research approach through statute, conceptual, and case methods, this study finds that Article 78 of the KUHP establishes a 12-year statute of limitations for ordinary murder, which potentially undermines victims’ rights to justice by allowing perpetrators to evade punishment due to the passage of time. In contrast, Law No. 1 of 2023 extends the statute of limitations to 18 years and introduces flexibility by permitting recalculation of the limitation period upon the commencement of prosecution, thereby strengthening law enforcement and human rights protection. Nevertheless, the persistence of the statute of limitations continues to pose a barrier to achieving substantive justice in serious murder cases. This study recommends a reevaluation of the statute of limitations policy, advocating for its abolition in murder cases to uphold the retributive, preventive, and rehabilitative principles of punishment theory, while ensuring legal certainty and justice for victims.
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