Legal Assistance Policy for the Poor in the Criminal Justice System from a Human Rights Perspective

Abstract

The research aims to analyze and examine regulatory policies on legal aid for the poor in the criminal justice system and to find out the obstacles in implementing legal policies for the poor at this time and solutions to overcome these obstacles. This research uses a statutory approach, a conceptual approach and a historical approach. This research is a type of normative juridical research. The source and type of data used in this research is secondary data, namely: Data originating from literature studies, in the form of literature related to legal aid in criminal cases from a human rights perspective, which consists of secondary legal materials and tertiary legal materials. Data collection using library research, namely by collecting and studying primary legal materials, secondary legal materials and tertiary legal materials related to legal aid, the criminal justice system and human rights. The research results show that legal aid regulatory policies for the poor in the criminal justice system are regulated in Law no. 8 of 1981 which adheres to the due process model. The adoption of the due process model has implications for guaranteeing human rights in all stages of criminal justice, including the rights of perpetrators. One of the rights of perpetrators guaranteed in the Criminal Procedure Code is the right to legal aid, only it is stipulated that the perpetrators who are entitled to obtain legal aid are only poor people who commit crimes that carry a sentence of more than five years. Of course, there are exceptions for perpetrators who carry a sentence of less than five years, even though according to the Legal Aid Law, poor people without exception should be entitled to free legal aid.  The obstacles in implementing legal policies towards the poor at this time include limited funds for implementing the provision of legal aid, the availability of legal aid providers is still inadequate/inadequate, increasing human resources and solutions to overcome these obstacles by improving the performance of legal aid, infrastructure and facilities, and what is no less important is increasing funding.