In Limbo: Sakak bin Jumak, the Death Penalty and Criminal Injustice in Indonesia

Abstract

In Indonesia, prisoners condemned to death can be left in legal limbo for years. After his conviction for murder in 1995, Sakak bin Jumak sat on death row for more than a quarter ofa century before falling physically and mentally ill and dying there. The marginalisation of law is pervasive at each stage of the criminal process that leads to implementation of the death penalty in Indonesia. Like Sakak, many inmates reach death row only after a series ofabuses oftheir legal rights. Using Sakak’s experience as case study, this article investigates a series of rights that are, in principle, available at Indonesian law to defendants facing arrest, trial, imprisonment, and the clemency process. By..