Fine as a Preventive and Repressive Measure in Economic Crime

Palupi Rantau

Abstract


A fine is one of the forms of sanctions that is functioning in criminal law as an instrument of prevention and repression in Indonesian criminal law. Its effectiveness is often questionable because the implementation of fines is often incomparable with state losses or perpetrator profits, and the substitute imprisonment has a weakening deterrent effect. Many theories emphasize that fines should be proportional to the offender's benefit to create a real deterrent effect. This research uses the normative law method with the conceptual and legislative approaches. Primary law material includes the old criminal code, the newest criminal code, and laws that are specialized in the economy field. Secondary law material in the form of literature such as article journals and decisions of relevant courts. Analysis is done in a descriptive-analytical way to compare the construction of the normative fine with its implementation in practice. Research results show that the new Criminal Code presents updates through system category fines and criminal regulations for corporations, which are more normative and progressive compared to the old Criminal Code. From a preventive aspect, fine potential prevents crime economy if set in a way proportional to the loss or profit of the perpetrator. However, in practice, its effectiveness is still weak due to the small consequence magnitude relative to the small fine as well as a weakness in the mechanism of execution. From a repressive aspect, fines are capable of punishing perpetrators and recovering part of the loss but often only become symbolic punishment. Because the perpetrator can replace it with criminal prison or confinement. Thus, the effectiveness of fines in action in the criminal economy still depends very much on consistent law enforcement, nominal proportionality, and firm policy execution in order to be able to function as an instrument for optimal prevention and action. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that the fine settings be adjusted to reformulate the proportional magnitude of the loss and profit of the perpetrator.
Keywords: criminal sanction; fine; economic crime.

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20884/1.jih.2025.11.2.667

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