Head of the Center for Criminal Justice System Research, Universitas Brawijaya (PERSADA UB), Fachrizal Afandi, together with Secretary Ladito R. Bagaskoro, attended the annual conference of the Asian Law and Society Association (ALSA) on (13/12–14/12/2024) held at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea. On this occasion, PERSADA UB strengthened its network with criminal law academics from various countries in Asia through active participation in panel sessions discussing crucial issues in the criminal justice system and legal reform.
The conference took place at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), one of Asia’s oldest educational institutions with over 600 years of history. Founded in 1398, SKKU has a long history as a center of learning and innovation, making it a great place for in-depth discussions on law and society in Asia.
The opening remarks were given by Prof. Yoshitaka Wada, President of ALSA and an academic from Waseda University Law School, Japan, who highlighted the importance of cross-border collaboration in advancing the study of law and society in Asia. His remarks provided a strategic framework for discussion for conference participants. In the opening remarks, Prof. Chulwoo Lee from Yonsei University Law School, South Korea delivered a keynote speech on “Charting the Uncharted: The Early Days of the Critical Law and Society Movement in Korea”, inspiring dialogue on the early dynamics of the critical law movement in Korea.
The conference featured a variety of interesting sessions that discussed important issues in the criminal justice system. In each session, there were seven panels that comprehensively discussed the development of criminal law. One of them is in the Criminal Justice & Reform session, the discussion includes an evaluation of the new criminal code that will come to be applied in July 2024 in India by Vaibhav Chadha from OP Jindal Global University, a study of racial profiling practices in Japan by Moe Miyashita, and an empirical analysis of the unique balanced relationship between investigators and lawyers in the process of interrogating suspects in South Korea by Myeonki Kim from the Korean National Police University. Fachrizal emphasized that this empirical approach is an important reference for improving criminal justice practices in Indonesia.
In addition, there was an in-depth discussion from Wang Yu, who presented an empirical study of punishment for perpetrators with mental disorders in the Chinese criminal justice system, and Jiang Jize from Tongji University who explored the politics of rehabilitation in the prison system in society in modern China. Ladito highlighted the importance of this study in understanding how a community-based approach can improve the integration of perpetrators into society.
In other sessions, the discussion involved innovative topics such as the role of the Citizen Judges Act in Taiwan presented by Shao Hsueh Chen from National Taiwan University. This topic discusses the adaptation of the concept of jury trials from Japan to the Taiwanese context. In addition, Huang Cheng from China Jiliang University introduced a study on the practical effects of implementing AI-based courts in China and other countries. Fachrizal noted that AI technology offers new opportunities, but also major challenges that require strict supervision and regulation.
The Judicial Reform and Public Participation in Justice in East Asia session discussed the origins of the judicial administration system in South Korea, Brazil, and Spain, presented by Yeongshin Nam from the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice. The discussion also introduced how the criminal justice reform process can increase public participation in the legal process.
Fachrizal said that public inclusion in the legal reform process is one step that can be used to improve responsive and fair justice.
In a session discussing artificial intelligence technology in law, Eugene Tan from Singapore Management University discussed the importance of developing trust in the use of AI through ethical values.
This discussion was strengthened by a contribution from Huang Cheng from China Jiliang University, who not only discussed the application of AI technology in courts in China but also compared it with the application of AI in the United States. Huang explained that China has leveraged AI to support decision-making in first-instance courts, while in the United States, AI is more often used as a predictive tool to help prosecutors and lawyers determine possibility of case success.
Ladito also attended a session discussing Lawyer’s Misconduct and Disciplinary Action in South Korea by JaeWon Kim from Sungkyunkwan University. In addition, Prof. Akira Fujimoto from Nagoya University, who focuses on legal education and comparative law. Prof. Fujimoto highlighted the need for innovative approaches in legal learning to answer the challenges of globalization and technological advances. This session highlighted the challenges in ensuring the professional integrity of lawyers and the importance of a strong disciplinary system to build public trust. This discussion, according to Ladito, is relevant for Indonesia to encourage professionalism in the legal profession.
On the last day of the conference, keynote reflections by Prof. Sarah Biddulph, Director of the Asian Law Centre from the University of Melbourne, closed the series of events. In her speech entitled “How Law Really Matters: Contributions from Young Law and Society Scholars”, Prof. Biddulph highlighted the important role of young legal academics in connecting legal studies with relevant social changes in Asia. This reflection inspired participants to continue to collaborate and innovate in the development of cross-disciplinary legal science in Asia.
In addition to attending a series of conferences, Fachrizal and Ladito took the opportunity to establish research collaborations with leading academics. They visited Nagoya University, Japan to meet with Prof. Yuzuru Shimada, to explore research collaboration on police reform. Fachrizal and Ladito also held discussions with a number of leading academics, including Prof. Ann Black from the University of Queensland, who is known for her studies on comparative criminal law and the constitution, with Daniel Pascoe from the City University of Hong Kong, who is known for his studies on the criminal law system and the implementation of the death penalty in Southeast Asia. This discussion opened up opportunities for research collaboration in understanding the challenges of law enforcement in the region.
PERSADA UB’s participation in ALSA 2024 strengthens the commitment of interdisciplinary legal researchers from Universitas Brawijaya in advancing criminal law and the criminal justice system at the global level while building strategic networks with legal experts from various countries. Fachrizal hopes that the results of this conference can be used as a reflection in the development of criminal law policies in Indonesia. (*/UB PR/ Trans. Iir).
