Criminal Reform in Indonesia: A Penological Analysis of Community Service in the New Criminal Code

Legal reform in Indonesia through the New Criminal Code introduced community service as an alternative punishment to replace imprisonment in some criminal cases. Community service aims to provide a rehabilitative effect and social reintegration for criminals, which in turn is expected to address the problem of overcrowding in correctional institutions. This study aims to analyze the application of community service from a penological perspective, and to identify the provisions of community service in the New Criminal Code and the challenges faced in its implementation in Indonesia. The approach used is a juridical-normative approach with a review of the New Criminal Code regulations, as well as qualitative empirical through interviews with relevant parties such as community counselors and correctional institutions. The results show that community service, when viewed from a penological perspective, has great potential in achieving the goals of rehabilitation and social reintegration, but is faced with several operational challenges, such as the lack of capacity of community counselors, limited infrastructure, and negative public perceptions of perpetrators. To optimize the implementation of community service, it is necessary to increase human resource capacity, strengthen the monitoring system, and educate the public. This study contributes to the development of penological theory in Indonesia and provides policy recommendations related to the implementation of more effective community service.