The Position and Impact of Ethics Hearings in Indonesian Law

Enforcing professional ethics through ethics hearings is crucial for shaping a social system aligned with customary, religious, and cultural norms. As these norms evolve with society, community and social institutions must develop ethics to earn public trust. This requirement extends to legal and governmental institutions responsible for law enforcement, ensuring integrity in the behavior of public servants and professionals. Ethical oversight can take various forms, either integrated within the organization (internal) or as a separate entity (external). The debate arises over the impact of these differing institutional forms on ethics enforcement quality and procedures. Internal oversight is seen as protective of individuals and organizations involved in ethical cases but may raise concerns about the independence of ethics enforcers. This raises questions about the role of ethics hearings in Indonesia's legal system and their impact on trials involving the same defendant in different courts. A normative juridical study was conducted to address these questions, finding that ethics hearings operate independently from court trials under the Supreme Court, ensuring their outcomes do not affect separate court proceedings involving the same defendant.