The Impact of Prosecution Plans on Disparities of Criminal Prosecutions by The Public Prosecutor

Abstract

Indonesia is a rule of law country founded on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, which highly upholds human rights and equal standing before the law and government. This also entails that any conduct of state administration must always be based on the law, including in resolving a criminal case, every stage of it must be based on the applicable law (due process of law). Essentially, disparity in criminal charges is a normal phenomenon, as there is no single case that is identical. However, disparity becomes problematic when the difference in sentences proposed between similar cases is too significant, leading to injustice and undermining public confidence in the justice system.  This research is a normative juridical research utilizing the literature study method. Results of the study show that one of the causes of disparity in prosecution is the prosecution plan policy adopted by the prosecutor's office. The Rentut, which was first regulated in a Circular Letter of the Attorney General in 1985, is implemented hierarchically from the local to the national level, depriving the Public Prosecutor of independence in determining criminal charges. The Rentut is also often used by prosecutorial leaders to determine criminal charges based on the social and economic status of the defendant, ignoring the principle of equality before the law.