TRANSFORMING RESTORATIVE JUSTICE THROUGH CUSTOMARY LEGAL TRADITIONS IN INDONESIA’S CRIMINAL LAW REFORM
Abstract
Restorative justice has become an important paradigm in contemporary criminal justice reform, particularly in societies with strong customary legal traditions. This study examines how restorative justice can be strengthened through Indonesian customary law within the context of recent criminal law reform. The research aims to analyze the relationship between restorative justice principles and customary dispute resolution and to propose an institutional framework that integrates these mechanisms within the formal criminal justice system. This study applies a qualitative socio-legal approach combining normative legal analysis, restorative justice theory, and comparative legal perspectives. Legal pluralism is used as the analytical framework to examine interactions between customary institutions and state criminal justice mechanisms. Data are drawn from statutory regulations, academic literature, and documented practices of customary dispute resolution in Indonesia. The findings show that many Indonesian customary legal traditions already embody restorative justice principles, including mediation, reconciliation, restitution, and community participation. These practices emphasize restoring social harmony rather than imposing punitive sanctions. However, significant institutional gaps remain between customary dispute resolution and formal criminal justice procedures. The study identifies the need for legal recognition of customary settlements, coordination between community leaders and legal authorities, and procedural safeguards to ensure fairness and compliance with constitutional and human rights standards. The study concludes that integrating customary restorative mechanisms within Indonesia’s criminal justice reform can enhance legal legitimacy, cultural relevance, and the effectiveness of restorative justice policies.
References
Ariyanti, V., & Supani, S. (2024). Customary law and restorative justice in Indonesian legal reform. Indonesian Journal of Law and Society.
Asmawi. (2025). Living Law in Indonesia’s New Criminal Code: Legal Controversies and its Relevance with the Urf. Jurnal Hukum Islam, 23(2), 581–610. https://doi.org/10.28918/jhi.v23i2.07
Astawa, I., & Rulyandi, M. (2025). Decolonising restorative justice in Indonesia: A comparative study across Customary Law traditions. Jurnal Ilmiah Hukum Legality, 33(2), 470–492. https://doi.org/10.22219/ljih.v33i2.40481
Bogosavljević, K., & Kilty, J. (2023). Prosecuting and propagating emotional harm: The criminalisation of HIV nondisclosure in Canada. Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 38(1), 109–128. https://doi.org/10.1017/cls.2023.4
Chien, C. (2020). America’s paper prisons: The second chance gap. Michigan Law Review, 119(3), 519. https://doi.org/10.36644/mlr.119.3.america
Febrianty, Y., Ishwara, A., Priambada, B., & Hulwanullah, H. (2023). The limitations of living law in Indonesian criminal law reform: An effort to realize justice. Jurnal Ius Kajian Hukum dan Keadilan, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.29303/ius.v11i2.1232
Fisher, E. (2022). Living law and criminal law reform in Indonesia. Asian Journal of Comparative Law.
Greife, M., Stretesky, P., Shelley, T., & Pogrebin, M. (2015). Corporate environmental crime and environmental justice. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 28(4), 327–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403415576742
Hardinanto, A., Arief, B., Setiyono, J., Fernando, Z., & Sabrina, N. (2024). Critical analysis of living law formulation in Law No. 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code: Towards law reform to realize justice with the spirit of Pancasila. Journal of Law and Legal Reform, 5(3), 1029–1066. https://doi.org/10.15294/jllr.v5i3.13923
Hofmann, R., & Nelen, H. (2020). Cross-border cooperation in the execution of sentences between the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium: An empirical and comparative legal study on the implementation of EU framework decisions 2008/909/JHA and 2008/947/JHA. Crime, Law and Social Change, 74(4), 381–404. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-020-09900-7
Ismail, D., Mantali, A., & Moha, M. (2023). The concept of revitalizing traditional institutions in the criminal law system to realize restorative justice. Jambura Law Review, 5(2), 220–234. https://doi.org/10.33756/jlr.v5i2.11682
Kent, H., Hogarth, L., Williams, W., Cornish, R., & Leckie, G. (2025). A ‘double disadvantage’: Neurodevelopmental profile and poverty confer synergistic risk of youth justice involvement. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 16(3), 355–372. https://doi.org/10.1332/17579597y2025d000000052
LeMasters, K., et al. (2023). Mass probation and community justice systems: Structural implications for criminal justice reform. SSM Mental Health.
Masyhar, A., Aisy, R., Widyawati, A., Maskur, M., & Murtadho, A. (2025). Reclaiming the unwritten: Living law’s prospects under Indonesia’s 2023 penal reform. Jambe Law Journal, 8(1), 255–285. https://doi.org/10.22437/home.v8i1.502
McGrath, S., et al. (2021). Indigenous justice and restorative mechanisms in plural legal systems. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice.
Olsen, H., & Toddington, S. (2014). The end of an era: Static and dynamic interpretation in international courts. International Criminal Law Review, 14(4–5), 920–943. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718123-01405010
Smet, S., Keyzer, W., Donder, L., Ryan, D., Verté, D., Broekaert, E., & Vandevelde, S. (2016). Older offenders deemed criminally irresponsible in Flanders (Belgium): Descriptive results from a retrospective case note study. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 46, 35–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.02.025
Sukti, S., Khair, A., Mualimin, M., & Arifin, I. (2023). The binding power of the Bapalas tradition to solve Dayak citizens’ disputes in West Kotawaringin District. Jurnal Ilmiah Al-Syir’ah, 21(2), 297. https://doi.org/10.30984/jis.v21i2.2634
Wibianto, M. (2025). Real justice, real impact with the prosecutors in action. Journal of Human Rights Culture and Legal System, 5(3), 1015–1041. https://doi.org/10.53955/jhcls.v5i3.804
Copyright (c) 2026 Safrin Salam, Izu Cynthia Chukwufumnanya, Elfrida Ratnawati, Asmah, Ibrahim Kayode Muhammed, Callistus Odeh
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The authors of a work hold the copyright and grant Al-Ahkam: Jurnal Hukum Pidana Islam the right of first publication. The work is also licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which enables others to share the work while acknowledging the authorship and initial publication in the journal. The authors can make separate contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work, such as by posting it to an institutional repository or editing it for a book, with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are allowed and encouraged to post their work online, such as in institutional repositories or on their website, before and during the submission process. This can lead to productive exchanges and greater citation of the published work.
2.png)
1.png)
2.png)
1.png)
1.png)
1.png)
1.png)
.png)
.jpg)
1.png){kind=small}
.png)
