Legal Literacy - This article explains the Ultra Petita decision as part of the new direction of judicial progressiveness in law enforcement.

Domiunt aliquando leges, nunquam moriuntur. The law does not die, it is only asleep and about to awaken. A legal adage and a metaphorical, even somewhat hyperbolic, expression that more or less represents the situation that occurred in the courtroom of the South Jakarta District Court when the panel of judges handed down verdicts one by one against the defendants in the premeditated murder case of Brigadier Yosua Hutabarat.

If we try to go back to a time long before this case was submitted to the Court for trial, public pessimism is still unavoidable. This condition of public anxiety is not unfounded if we try to look at it from the point of view of power relations: who is involved, then what rank and from which institution. The public learns from experience that cases involving public officials, even law enforcement officials themselves, often only result in disappointment, whether it's a light sentence or ends in a reduction of detention time.

After reading all the extremely thick, long and tiring verdict files, the Panel of Judges, led by Judge Wahyu Imam Santoso, in a faltering and trembling tone and voice, firmly and bravely handed down a criminal verdict of death against the defendant Ferdi Sambo.. Not even a few seconds…