The Impact on Enforcing Act and 2013 Criminal Procedures in the Summary Court Act to the Criminal Justice System

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the impact on Enforcing Act and the 2013 Criminal Procedures in the Summary Court Act to the inquiry official, prosecutor, court and attorney under the justice agencies when enforcing such law. The study also examines the impact on rights protection for injured persons and offenders and the effectiveness of government enforcing laws as well as learning about problems and obstacles discovered during the process. The research was conducted through qualitative data. This required Focus group discussions twice with the inquiry officials and prosecutors and conducted in-depth interviews with the Inquiry Official Executive, Attorney General, Judge, Attorney, Injured Person and Offenders, selected 5 samples for each group. Moreover, data were gathered from literature. Research results showed that the impact from enforcing laws happened when the inquiry official must complete the deposition within the postpone prosecution period, considering as the legal right protection for the offender. When offender had been informed of all charges, the inquiry officials must deliver the deposition to the prosecutor to file such lawsuit within 48 hours or within the court permission. However, the inquiry officials was unable to complete the deposition on time. As a result, there was a huge backlog of unfinished depositions that required approval from the Attorney General. Regarding the effectiveness of law enforcement, this law had been applied with the small and uncomplicated cases and the offenders usually confessed to the crime. Problems and obstacles occurred when the inquiry officials submitted the petition to postpone prosecuting the offender who confessed to the crime, the court would accept such petition and the offender would be released without bail. If the inquiry official was unable to bring the offender to the court within the postpone time, he must seek permission from the Attorney General for prosecuting case. It is rather difficult to track down the offender to deliver on time to the prosecutor.