The risk of coerced confession in the plea mechanism and its implications for corruption cases

Jason Thimoty Silitonga

doi:10.32697/integritas.v12i1.1690

RESEARCH ARTICLE Issue: Vol. 12 No. 1 (2026) | Published: 2026-06-24

The risk of coerced confession in the plea mechanism and its implications for corruption cases

Jason Thimoty Silitonga¹

¹ Universitas Gadjah Mada

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32697/integritas.v12i1.1690

READ / PREVIEW FULLTEXT PDF DOWNLOAD FULLTEXT PDF

Downloads

170

Views

167

Citations

22

ABSTRACT

The integration of guilty plea mechanisms into Indonesia's reformed Code of Criminal Procedure (KUHAP) raises fundamental questions regarding the tension between procedural efficiency and the integrity of substantive truth-seeking, particularly in corruption cases that demand comprehensive evidentiary processes to expose systemically structured criminal networks. This study employs normative legal research utilizing statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, supported by analysis of primary legal materials, academic literature, and cross-jurisdictional examination of plea bargaining practices across common law and civil law systems. The analysis reveals that the special track mechanism under Law No. 20 of 2025 structurally generates conditions conducive to coerced confession, as negotiations between prosecutors and defendants unfold within an inherently asymmetric power relationship. In corruption cases, this risks producing guilty pleas driven by legal risk calculation rather than factual acknowledgment, potentially halting evidentiary processes before criminal networks are fully exposed a risk compounded in multi-defendant scenarios where asymmetric use of plea mechanisms may produce evidentiary fragmentation and inconsistent judicial outcomes. Effective implementation requires operationalization through subordinate regulations, strengthened independent judicial verification of confession voluntariness, and inter-institutional coordination to safeguard evidentiary coherence in collective corruption cases.

KEYWORDS

Plea Mechanism Coerced Confession Criminal Procedure reform Coruption Cases Anti-corruption enforcement

AUTHORS & AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Jason Thimoty Silitonga

, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

REFERENCES

Adebanjo, O. T., & Aluko, N. (2025). The effectiveness of plea bargaining in high-profile corruption cases in Nigeria: Analyzing sentencing trends, judicial discretion, and public perception (2010-2024). Law and Economy, 4(2), 24–31. https://doi.org/10.56397/LE.2025.02.04 Adebayo, A. (2018). A review of plea bargain concept in the anti- corruption war in Nigeria. Brawijaya Law Journal, 5(2), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.blj.2018.005.01.01 Adeyemo, L. J. (2025). Journalists’ perceptions on plea bargain as an anti- corruption tool in Nigeria. Gusau International Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 8(1), 251–269. https://doi.org/10.57233/gijmss.v8i1.14 Black, H. C., Garner, B. A., McDaniel, B. R., Schultz, D. W., & Company, W. P. (2019). Black’s law dictionary. West Group St. Paul, MN. Dervan, L. E., & Edkins, V. (2012). The innocent defendant’s dilemma: An innovative empirical study of plea bargaining’s innocence problem. SSRN Electronic Journal, 103. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2071397 Fair Trials. (2017). The disappearing trial: Towards a rights-based approach to trial waiver systems. Fair Trials. https://www.fairtrials.org/app/uploads/2022/01/The-Disappearing-Trial-report.pdf Firmansah, M. H., Ariyani, W., & Suyoto, S. (2024). The urgency of implementing plea bargaining in resolving corruption crime cases in Indonesia. Uniglobal Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 3(1), 64–70. https://doi.org/10.53797/ujssh.v3i1.10.2024 Helm, R. K. (2019). Conviction by consent? Vulnerability, autonomy and conviction by guilty plea. The Journal of Criminal Law, 83(2), 161–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018318822223 Hutchinson, T., & Duncan, N. (2012). Defining and describing what we do: Doctrinal legal research. Deakin Law Review, 17(1), 83. https://doi.org/10.21153/dlr2012vol17no1art70 Kurniawan, K. D., Hapsari, D. R. I., & Prasetya, I. E. (2021). Pemberlakukan plea bargaining system sebagai alternatif penyelesaian perkara pidana untuk tujuan menyelesaikan konflik. Jurnal Jurisprudence, 10(2), 183–199. https://doi.org/10.23917/jurisprudence.v10i2.12949 Langbein, J. H. (2022). The turn to confession bargaining in german criminal procedure: Causes and comparisons with American plea bargaining. The American Journal of Comparative Law, 70(1), 139–161. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcl/avac025 Luna, S., & Redlich, A. D. (2025). Testing a theoretical definition of coercion with an experimental plea negotiation paradigm. Journal of Experimental Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-025-09715-3 Mahadewi, C., & Prayitno, A. H. (2024). Plea bargaining policy by the prosecutor’s office in the framework of accelerating the settlement of corruption crime cases. Ratio Legis Journal, 3(4). https://doi.org/10.30659/rlj.3.4.721-730 McEachern, M. (2026). Coerced into confession: Prosecutorial pressure and the misuse of plea bargaining. SSRN Electronic Journal, 13(1), 245–269. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6069570 Ngbede, S. A., Ibrahim, M., & Bello, A. (2024). Effectiveness of plea bargaining in corruption cases. Lapai International Journal of Administration, 6(1). Pardieck, A., Edkins, V., & Dervan, L. E. (2020). Bargained justice: The rise of false testimony for false pleas. Fordham International Law Journal, 44(2), 469–528. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2811&context=ilj Pratiwi, N. (2023). Implementasi plea bargaining system kedalam pembaharuan sistem peradilan pidana tindak pidana korupsi. Kajian Ilmiah Hukum Dan Kenegaraan, 2(2), 79–86. https://doi.org/10.35912/kihan.v2i2.2269 Rose-Ackerman, S., & Palifka, B. J. (2016). Corruption and government. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139962933 Slobogin, C. (2016). Plea bargaining and the substantive and procedural goals of criminal justice: from retribution and adversarialism to preventive justice and hybrid-inquisitorialism. William and Mary Law Review, 57(4), 1505. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A453918524/AONE?u=anon~2e5309b4&amp Suindrayani, N. P. T. (2022). Aplikasi konsep plea bargaining: Perspektif perkara narkotika. Kertha Patrika, 44(3), 300–318. https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/kerthapatrika/article/view/93381/47597 Turner, J. I. (2017a). Plea bargaining. In E. Luna (Ed.), 3 Reforming Criminal Justice: Trial and Pre-Trial Processes. SMU Dedman School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 348. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2930521 Turner, J. I. (2017b). Plea bargaining and international criminal justice. University of the Pacific Law Review, 48(2). https://ssrn.com/abstract=2924610

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Open Access Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)

This work is published open-access and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

HOW TO CITE

Silitonga, J. T. (2026). The risk of coerced confession in the plea mechanism and its implications for corruption cases. Integritas: Jurnal Antikorupsi, 12(1), 105-114. https://doi.org/10.32697/integritas.v12i1.1690