Human Rights Protection in the Indonesian Criminal Justice System

Abstract

Protecting human rights remains a fundamental concern in the criminal justice system, particularly in ensuring that law enforcement practices align with principles of justice and human dignity. Although Indonesia has established a strong constitutional and legal framework to safeguard human rights, significant challenges persist in its practical implementation, especially within criminal law enforcement. This study analyzes the role of criminal law in protecting human rights and examines how Indonesia's criminal justice system implements and challenges human rights protection. This research uses a normative legal research method with a juridical-normative approach, using statutory and conceptual approaches to analyze relevant legal provisions, doctrines, and principles. The study collects legal materials through a comprehensive literature review and analyzes them qualitatively using deductive reasoning. The findings indicate that criminal law plays a crucial role in protecting human rights by limiting state power, safeguarding suspects' and defendants' procedural rights, and ensuring protection and recovery for victims. However, a significant gap remains between normative legal standards and their implementation in practice, as reflected in issues such as coercive interrogation practices, disproportionate detention, and abuse of authority by law enforcement officials. Therefore, this study emphasizes strengthening the criminal justice system through improved professionalism, stronger oversight mechanisms, and legal reforms better aligned with human rights principles, ensuring criminal law functions not only as a tool of punishment but also as a framework for protecting human dignity and fundamental rights.