Borobudur Law and Society Journal

Fires in homes and workplaces often begin with a lapse of care, yet when such a lapse is a crime is rarely explained. The Civil Service Police and Fire Services Office of Magelang Regency recorded 115 fires in 2022, mainly from short circuits, forgotten stoves, cigarette ends and gas leaks. This article asks what elements make a person criminally responsible for causing a fire by negligence under Article 188 of the Criminal Code, and how the new Criminal Code, Law No 1 of 2023, changes the answer. It is normative legal research using statutory, conceptual and case approaches. The materials are the two codes, doctrine and one Jayapura District Court decision, with incident information from the fire services unit, analysed qualitatively. The offence has four elements: a negligent act, a fire, explosion or flood caused by it, and one of three consequences, general danger to property, danger to life, or death, linked to the act by causation. Negligence needs a breach of the duty of care that a reasonable person would have observed and a foreseeable consequence, so a lapse such as forgetting a stove is punishable only if these are shown. Article 311 of Law No 1 of 2023 retains the offence with a five-year maximum. The article recommends prosecution guidance, electrical safety inspection and public information.