The Meaning of Waiver of Case for Public Interest (Seponeering) in the Criminal Justice System

Abstract

Article 35, letter C, Law No. 16 of 2004, which regulates the authority of the Attorney General in issuing deponing, where according to the Constitutional Court in its legal considerations (ratio decidendi), there are no clear boundaries between "the interests of the nation and the state and/or the interests of the wider community," which are regulated in the elucidation of Article 35, letter C, Law No. 16 of 2004, so that it can be interpreted broadly by the Attorney General as the seponeering authority holder, Therefore, to avoid abuse of authority by the Attorney General in issuing denials, it is necessary to provide a judicial oversight system to assess whether the Attorney General's decision is in accordance with the principle of due process of law or not. Starting from these considerations, the author is interested in discussing several legal issues related to the meaning of setting aside cases in the public interest (seponeering) in the criminal justice system. This study uses normative research methods with a statutory approach. The results of the study show that the formulation of the Attorney General's authority in overriding a case in the public interest (seponeering) was formally regulated for the first time based on Article 8 of Law Number 15 of 1961 concerning the Main Provisions of the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Indonesia, which states that "The Attorney General can set aside a case based on the public interest." It is only then that an explanation of the notion of "public interest" is clearly stated in Article 32, letter c, of Law Number 5 of 1991 concerning the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Indonesia, which states that "what is meant by "public interest" is the interest of the nation and state and/or the interests of the wider community."