Legal Literacy - This article discusses the evidentiary parameters in criminal procedure law in Indonesia. Evidentiary parameters in criminal procedure law are provisions governing the method of proof in criminal cases. These evidentiary parameters aim to provide legal certainty in the evidentiary process, so that judges can render fair and correct decisions. What are the evidentiary parameters in criminal procedure law and how do they work? Let's take a look at the following article explanation.
Essential Aspects of Evidence in Criminal Procedure Law
As one of the stages that has an important and strategic role in finding the material truth of a case being tried, in the context of legal criminal law, the evidentiary process is an essential process in court as a provision and guideline on methods permitted by law to prove the alleged guilt of the defendant, including regulations regarding evidentiary theory, evidentiary principles, evidentiary strength, and evidentiary tools recognized by law.
Definition of Evidence in Criminal Procedure Law
Referring to the opinions of several experts, for example, B. Gerstenfend in Crime and Punishment in the United States defines the law of evidence as a rule that determines the admissibility of all forms of evidence in court. In another opinion, Bambang Poernomo explicitly defines law evidence as the whole of legal rules or laws regarding activities to reconstruct a true reality in every past event that is relevant to the presumption against a person suspected of committing a criminal act and the ratification of every means of evidence according to applicable legal provisions for the interests of justice in criminal cases.
From these two definitions, the author can conclude that evidence is the core of the trial, where in this stage the Public Prosecutor is burdened to prove all the charges (actori incumbit onus probandi), the Legal Counsel proves otherwise, and the Panel of Judges will assess everything that happens in the process of evidence to obtain a conclusion later in the Verdict Letter, whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty as charged by the Public Prosecutor.
Law Number 8 of 1981 concerning the Criminal Procedure Code explicitly refers to the system of evidence according to the law negatively as regulated in Article 183 of the Criminal Procedure Code (negative wetterlijk bewijs theorie).
The evidentiary system adopted by the Criminal Procedure Code combines objective and subjective elements in determining the guilt or innocence of the defendant. These two elements do not dominate or segregate each other, but are interconnected. However, the position of the judge's belief in this theory positions the judge's belief as the determinant. If a judge is not sure or hesitant in imposing a sentence on the defendant, then the decision must be in favor of the defendant as known as the principle of in dubio proreo.
Evidentiary Strength in Criminal Procedure Law
Evidentiary strength is the level of confidence a judge has in a piece of evidence. The evidentiary strength of a piece of evidence can be determined by various factors, such as the accuracy, thoroughness, and objectivity of the evidence.
Bewijskracht can be interpreted as the evidentiary strength of each piece of evidence in the series of assessments of the proven indictment. This assessment is fully the authority of the judge. In addition, the evidentiary strength also lies in the evidence submitted, whether the evidence is relevant or not to the case being tried.
Evidentiary strength is explicitly stated in Article 183 of the Criminal Procedure Code which reads, “A judge may not impose a sentence on a person unless with at least two valid pieces of evidence he obtains the conviction that a criminal act has actually occurred and that the defendant is guilty of committing it.” It is interpreted as evidentiary strength because with this evidence the judge in deciding a case is prohibited from imposing a sentence without being based on a minimum of two valid pieces of evidence (unus testis nullus testis) with confidence based on the evidence.
Bewijsmiddelen are the instruments of evidence used to prove the occurrence of a legal event. Valid evidence is regulated in Article 184 Paragraph (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code in succession, namely Witness Testimony; Expert Testimony; Letters; Instructions; and Defendant Testimony. Although these instruments are explained sequentially, in essence all of these instruments of evidence are the same, none are priority/inferior or hierarchical over the assessment of evidence.
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