Legal Literacy - Imagine you are scrutinizing the article on murder in our criminal law, but suddenly you realize there is something odd: the word "intentionally" disappears from it. Is this a fatal legal blunder, or a brilliant doctrinal revolution? To the layman's eye, this new formulation may seem like a dangerous simplification, but for legal enthusiasts, this is a fundamental shift that changes the way we understand crime and punishment.

Welcome to the new era of Indonesian criminal law. Through Law Number 1 of 2023, or what is familiarly called the National Criminal Code, we are witnessing a major shift from the "old ways" inherited from the Dutch towards a more systematic system, but at the same time it holds traps for those who only read the law on the surface.

Shift from Monistic to Dualistic

The most radical change in the National Criminal Code is the transition from the doctrine of Monistic to the doctrine of DualisticIn the old Criminal Code inherited from the Netherlands, we are familiar with the monistic doctrine that unites criminal acts and criminal responsibility in one breath. This means that the elements of physical action and the perpetrator's inner intent are intertwined in every article.

However, the National Criminal Code chooses a different path. The drafters of the law adopted the dualistic doctrine in the academic sphere, which explicitly separates criminal acts (actus reus) and criminal responsibility or fault (mens rea). This is not merely a matter of grammar, but a philosophical choice about how the law views a mistake.

"In the National Criminal Code, which adopts the dualistic doctrine, criminal acts and criminal responsibility are not united... Meanwhile, in the old Criminal Code, they were united."