Legal Protection for Victims of Abuse Resulting in Serious Injury Based on the National Criminal Code

Abstract

This study is based on the continuing inadequacy of legal protection for victims of assault resulting in serious injury within the Indonesian criminal law system. Criminal law has traditionally focused on perpetrators, causing the interests and rights of victims to receive insufficient attention. With the enactment of the National Criminal Code as part of criminal law reform, an academic examination is required to assess the extent to which the new regulation provides fair and effective legal protection for victims. This research aims to analyze the regulation, forms, and implementation of legal protection for victims of assault causing serious injury under the National Criminal Code. This research employs a normative legal research method using statutory, conceptual, and philosophical approaches. Legal materials consist of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources collected through library research. The analysis is conducted qualitatively using deductive reasoning by examining general legal norms and applying them to specific legal issues. The results of the study indicate that although the National Criminal Code regulates assault resulting in serious injury along with criminal sanctions, provisions concerning victim protection have not been comprehensively formulated. Legal protection for victims remains limited and has not fully ensured the fulfillment and recovery of victims' rights, both materially and immaterially. In practice, the implementation of victim protection still encounters various obstacles, highlighting the need for regulatory strengthening and a paradigm shift among law enforcement authorities toward a more victim-oriented criminal justice system.