National Human Rights Commission Survey: 27.8% of the Public Experienced Discrimination by Law Enforcement Officials

Based on a survey conducted by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) in collaboration with Kompas Research and Development, 27.8% of respondents reported experiencing, hearing about, or witnessing discriminatory treatment when dealing with law enforcement officials, including police, prosecutors, judges, and lawyers.

Discrimination is the act of intentionally differentiating against groups related to specific interests. Respondents experienced various forms of discrimination. The most common form, reported by 63.8% of respondents, was experiencing an unnecessarily difficult process.

A slow case handling process was also frequently reported as a form of discrimination, with 52.4% of respondents stating they had experienced this.

Furthermore, 32.9% of respondents experienced a stalled process, and 31.7% reported experiencing discrimination in the form of high case handling costs.

The survey also revealed that those who had experienced or heard of discriminatory treatment were most prevalent among respondents with higher education levels (43.6%), upper-class economic backgrounds (53.2%), and those residing in urban areas (32.8%). This treatment was also more frequently experienced by those who had filed complaints or assisted family members/relatives/neighbors who had filed complaints regarding violations of their right to justice (54.7%).

This survey was conducted from the fourth week of September to the second week of October 2021, across 34 provinces, using an interview method. The survey involved 1,200 male and female respondents aged 17-59 years. A multistage random sampling method was used, with a margin of error of approximately 2.8%.