Implementation Protection of The Defendants Rights Through Process of Criminal Justice in Indonesia

This study comprehensively examines the implementation of defendants' rights protection within the criminal justice process in Indonesia, reviewing the intersection and normative tensions between general criminal law according to Criminal Procedure Code and the new Criminal Code (KUHAP & KUHP) and special criminal law (lex specialis). Employing a normative legal research method with statute and conceptual approaches, the findings indicate that although normative guarantees such as the presumption of innocence, the right to legal assistance, and the right to defense are explicitly established, their operational implementation frequently encounters practical obstacles including public opinion, limited access to justice, and procedural deviations within extraordinary crime regimes. The discussion emphasizes the necessity of maintaining a proportional balance between crime enforcement effectiveness and human rights protection through the strengthening of independent judicial roles and consistent regulatory harmonization to achieve substantive and humane criminal justice.