PARADIGM OF PUNISHMENT AMOUNT OF STATE FINANCIAL LOSSES IN CORRUPTION CRIMES: A RESTORATIVE JUSTICE APPROACH

Abstract

According to Jeremy Bentham, punishment should not be employed or inflicted if it is unjustified, unnecessary, unprofitable, or ineffectual. In the writing of this essay, this idea—which is connected to the paradigm of criminalizing state financial losses from corruption activities under $50 million by employing a restorative justice approach—will be explored in greater detail. A restorative justice method is more readily applicable to criminal acts of corruption with relatively small amounts of state losses, especially in light of the enactment of Law No. 1 of 2023 about the Criminal Code (New Criminal Code). This article employs normative legal research methodologies, including statutory, conceptual, and case approaches. The study's findings indicate that there has been a movement in the sentencing paradigm, formerly in the Wetboek van Strafrecht (Old Criminal Code), which was more geared towards the theory of retribution and relative theory, towards a more restorative character. Punishment is more concentrated in this restorative approach, with the goal of recouping state financial losses. As a result, the core principle that has been integrated into the New Criminal Code about the goal of punishment can be a place for law enforcers to design a model or plan for settling corruption offenses that number less than 50 million using a restorative justice approach.