Risks and Rewards in Indonesia's Illicit Drug Trade

At the end of 2021, more than 80% of all recorded death sentences in Indonesia were imposed for drug related offences.

Together with LBH Masyarakat, we commissioned the Death Penalty Research Unit (DPRU), University of Oxford and Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia (AJCU) to undertake research investigating the economic and social motivations for entry into Indonesia’s illicit drugs trade, which seeks to understand how people navigate the risks and rewards of involvement.

Read the full report,  Dealing with Punishment: Risks and Rewards in Indonesia’s Illicit Drug trade here.

This study forms part of a wider programme of research we are conducting to map the experiences of people sentenced to death for drug trafficking across Southeast Asia and to test the theory that the death penalty can deter drug trafficking.