The Application of a Human Rights Approach toward Crimes of Corruption: Analyzing Anti-Corruption Regulations and Judicial Decisions

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the connection between the crime of corruption and human rights violations. Indonesia’s corruption-eradication regulations have increased the possibility of handling human rights-based corruption cases. This study employed doctrinal legal research that mainly relied on anti-corruption legislation and corruption cases in judicial decisions. The results showed that the law states that corruption infringes on people’s economic, social, and cultural rights. We employed a plausible scenario to provide practical explanations of the relationship between the two variables. The types of crimes of corruption have a direct nexus to the violation of human rights. In addition, there was inadequate proof of the connection between corruption and human rights violations in court rulings. Specifically, a few court decisions relate corruption to human rights violations. Judges consider the relationship more thoroughly when making legal considerations and when it is not applied as an aggravated circumstance, resulting in significantly milder prison sentences. The findings imply the necessity of mainstreaming corruption as a human rights violation through comprehensive and massive studies. Furthermore, legal enforcement institutions need to issue guidelines and provide continuous training on handling human rights-based corruption cases to the police, public prosecutors, and judges.