Investigating Attitudes to the Death Penalty in Indonesia, Part One - Opinion Formers: An Appetite for Change

In 2019-20, The Death Penalty Project, in partnership with LBH Masyarakat and the University of Indonesia, commissioned Professor Carolyn Hoyle, of The Death Penalty Research Unit at the University of Oxford to conduct research investigating attitudes towards the death penalty in Indonesia. The findings have been presented in a two-part report; the first details the findings of a nuanced public survey and the second details the findings of interviews conducted with opinion formers.

Interviews were conducted with 40 opinion formers, who have jurisdiction over part of the criminal process or who are considered influential in shaping or responding to public opinion across Indonesia.

• Opinion formers were found to be reasonably well informed about the death penalty and wider criminal justice system.
• 67% of opinion formers favoured abolition of the death penalty, with the majority ‘strongly’ in favour of it.
• Low levels of trust were also evident among opinion formers. Almost two-thirds stated that the criminal justice system ‘never’, ‘rarely’ or only ‘sometimes’ provides adequate safeguards to prevent miscarriages of justice, highlighting their belief that there is a significant risk of miscarriage of justice.—
  Read the companion study Part Two- Public Opinion: No Barrier to Abolition here.