The Relevance of Brazil’s Literacy Remission Program to Correctional Law Reform in Indonesia

Abstract

Law Number 22 of 2022 on corrections establishes three cumulative remission requirements at the statutory level, namely good conduct, active participation in rehabilitation programs, and reduction of risk level. The latter two requirements are absent from Government Regulation Number 99 of 2012, which to date has not been revised. Brazil, through CNJ Resolution 391 of 2021, has formalized a literacy-based remission program with structured and standardized procedures. This study address two questions: how relevant Brazil’s literacy-based remission program is to correctional law reform in Indonesia, and what the urgency is of revising Government Regulation Number 99 of 2012 as assessed against Law Number 22 of 2022. This study employs a normative legal research method with a statute approach and a comparative approach. The findings of this study conclude that Brazil’s program is relevant in three aspect: conceptually, because it formalizes literacy as an official category of personality development rehabilitation that can serve as the basis for remission; procedurally, because of its standardized three element technical framework; and in terms of verification, because it offers a reading report assessment mechanism based on written criteria that does not depend on a single internal officer, while adaptation must reject the ressocialização ideology, which is criminologically discredited. Second, Government Regulation Number 99 of 2012 must be immediately revised because letter b “Active participation rehabilitation programs” and letter c “Reduction of risk level” of Article 10 paragraph (2) of Law 22 of 2022 are absent from Government Regulation Number 99 of 2012 and to date, no assessment mechanism exists for either requirement.