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Fachrizal Afandi, S.Psi., SH., MH, a Lecturer in Criminal Law, Faculty of Law, Brawijaya University attended and was a speaker in the Crime, Justice and Social Democracy International Conference organized by the Crime and Justice Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology in Australia on July 9 to 10, 2015. This 2 year annual conference was attended by experts in criminal law and criminology from Europe, UK, USA, Canada, Latin America, Asia and also from ANZSOC (Australia and New Zealand Society of Criminology).
According to Fachrizal, this conference aims at updating the results of criminal law and criminology research relating to the relationship between social justice, democracy and prevention of crime. What was interested was the conference also seeks to formulate approaches to compensate Southern Criminology theory and criminology theory fronted by academics from northern countries. This new approach according to Professor Kerry Carrington (Recipient of a Lifetime achievement of the American Society of Criminology) aims to re-orient and modify theories of criminology in accordance with the conditions of developing countries which are mostly in the southern hemisphere.
As an academic who pursue the criminal justice system, especially the institution of criminal prosecution, Fachrizal who is also a doctoral student at Leiden University presented a paper entitled “The Indonesian Prosecution Service Reform and its challenge: Toward Transparent and Accountable prosecution system”. He explained the process of reform in the Indonesian Attorney since 2007 until today and its influence on the criminal justice process.
Efforts to reform the Prosecutor is not easy, where militaristic culture that was established since a long time resulted in the reform process which can not be run quickly. Bureaucratic reforms that target the recruitment process until the matter of promotion and transfer at least at this time although slowly began to have a positive impact.
In addition there are several innovations made independently by several countries to maximize the Attorney law enforcement process. Bandung District Attorney since 2015 for example is already implementing an online management of criminal cases. With this system the prosecutors can more easily carry out the process of pre prosecution, which is recognized to have an impact on the quality of the indictments which will be proved in court.
Another thing to note from the process of reform and innovation is the importance of the support of the leadership of the prosecutor. Without the support and attention from the leadership to continue to push for reform and positive innovation of the prosecutor, would be difficult to expect the criminal prosecution system to run better, firmly Fachrizal.
On this occasion Fachrizal also explored cooperation with several professors and researchers at the Australian National University that are currently developing the theory of Justice Reinvestment to reduce the number of children imprisonment. He explained that this cooperation is important to strengthen the formation of the faculty of law Brawijaya University research groups which in the last few years actively engaged in research and advocacy for the institutionalization of diversion in the criminal justice system of children. His hope is that this cooperation will strengthen the sharing of knowledge and networking in the future.