Optimizing the Role of the Police in Providing Legal Certainty for Women Victims of Sexual Violence

Abstract

The lack of evidence and witnesses is due to the victim's reluctance to report their case because it is still taboo and they think it will reveal their own family's shame, especially in cases related to sexual matters. For victims who want to report and the case meets the formal and material requirements, they often try to withdraw it, because they feel intimidated by various parties, which is full of the reality that occurs regarding the position of women as victims of sexual violence in the legal process. The paradigm of legal protection and legal certainty for women victims of sexual violence needs to be optimally embedded in the Police. The aim of this research is to determine and analyze (1) the nature of legal certainty for female victims of sexual violence in national legal products, (2) the role of the police in handling cases of sexual violence against women, and (3) the problems for the police in providing legal certainty for female victims of sexual violence. The approach used in this research is normative juridical. The research specifications are descriptive and analytical. The data sources used are secondary data. Secondary data is data obtained from library research, consisting of primary legal materials, secondary legal materials, and tertiary legal materials.  Based on the research results, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) The Law on Sexual Violence Crimes covers various forms of sexual violence, such as rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and cyber-based sexual violence. Constitutionally, legal protection for women from acts of sexual violence is also accommodated in Article 28G of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. (2) The Chief of the Indonesian National Police (Kapolri) has issued Regulation of the Chief of Police Number 10 of 2007 concerning the Organization and Work Procedures of the Women and Children Service Unit within the Indonesian National Police. The Women and Children Service Unit, abbreviated as the PPA unit, is a unit tasked with providing services in the form of protection for women and children who are victims of crime and law enforcement against the perpetrators. (3) Legal certainty is not difficult for women victims of sexual violence to obtain because in terms of legal construction, Indonesia has accommodated various legal products that have been produced through the Government's legal political efforts and the internal legal policies of law enforcement agencies in providing legal certainty and justice for women victims of sexual violence, both from the contextual provisions on the protection of women's rights, protection of women victims of sexual violence, and norms on the criminal responsibility of perpetrators of sexual violence against women.