Restorative Justice in Indonesia as a Modern Transformation of the Judicial Paradigm
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65586/jpr.v2i2.116Keywords:
Criminal law, Restorative justice, Paradigm shift, Modern justice system, State powerAbstract
When criminal law is no longer merely a means of punishment, restorative justice emerges, shifting the justice system from retribution towards the restoration of dignity, accountability and social relationships. This study aims to analyse restorative justice in Indonesia as a paradigm shift in the modern judicial system, positioning it not merely as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, but as a fundamental change in the orientation of the criminal justice system. The study employs a qualitative approach with a legal-normative design enriched by socio-legal analysis. The findings indicate that the implementation of restorative justice in Indonesia reflects a shift from the paradigm of the punitive state towards that of the restorative state. However, this transformation remains in a transitional phase due to regulatory fragmentation, institutional disharmony, inconsistent restoration standards, and the lack of integration of victim protection, offender accountability, and legal pluralism into a single systemic framework. This study emphasises that restorative justice must be understood as a paradigm for judicial reform that reconstructs the relationship between the state, society and the law, moving towards a more humanistic, participatory and accountable form of substantive justice.
References
Amelia, S. (2023). Progressive Legal Approach to Modern Community Law Enforcement in Indonesia. Pancasila and Law Review, 4(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.25041/plr.v4i1.2729
Aminah, S., Sugitanata, A., & Karimullah, S. S. (2024). Restorative Justice for the Survivor of Sexual Violence. Restorative: Journal of Indonesian Probation and Parole System, 2(1), 15–23. https://doi.org/10.61682/restorative.v2i1.10
Apituley, L. G. F., Baroto, W. A., & Soplantila, V. D. (2025). Restorative Justice Arrangements in Civil Law, Common Law, and Indonesian Legal Systems. SASI, 31(4), 374–389. https://doi.org/10.47268/sasi.v31i4.3270
Ashworth, A. (2002). Responsibilities, Rights and Restorative Justice. British Journal of Criminology, 42(3), 578–595. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/42.3.578
Bakhouch, S., & Benbba, B. (2025). A comprehensive review of competency models for 3PL operations managers: Bibliometric and systematic analysis. The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajsl.2025.11.001
Boucher, P. (2026). Indigenising and decolonising Canadian criminal law: examining the paradoxes inherent to the interactions between Western and indigenous legal orders–from accommodation to self-determination. The International Journal of Human Rights, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2026.2711667
Do, M., & Schertzer, R. (2024). How should courts respond to political questions? Exploring the dialogical turn in the Supreme Court of Canada’s federalism and Indigenous case law. Law & Social Inquiry, 49(1), 478–508. https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2022.89
Dworkin, R. (1982). Law as interpretation. Critical Inquiry, 9(1), 179–200. https://doi.org/10.1086/448194
Ehrlich, E., & Isaacs, N. (1922). The sociology of law. Harvard Law Review, 36(2), 130–145. https://doi.org/10.2307/1329737
Faisal, Yanto, A., Rahayu, D. P., Haryadi, D., Darmawan, A., & Manik, J. D. N. (2024). Genuine paradigm of criminal justice: rethinking penal reform within Indonesia New Criminal Code. Cogent Social Sciences, 10(1), 2301634. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2023.2301634
Gao, H., & Petrova, V. (2022). Do prostitution laws affect rape rates? Evidence from Europe. The Journal of Law and Economics, 65(4), 753–789. https://doi.org/10.1086/720583
Griffiths, J. (1986). What is legal pluralism? The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 18(24), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.1986.10756387
Hamzani, A. I., Sami’an, S., & Khasanah, N. (2026). Restorative Justice and Legal Pluralism in Indonesia: Implications for Atrocity Crimes and Global Criminal Justice Reform. International Criminal Law Review, 1(aop), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718123-bja10257
Hariri, A., & Babussalam, B. (2024). Legal pluralism: concept, theoretical dialectics, and its existence in indonesia. Walisongo Law Review (Walrev), 6(2). https://doi.org/10.21580/walrev.2024.6.2.25566
Ibrahim, Z., Karimullah, S., Assaad, A., Septiani, R., & Okur, H. (2025). Integration of Maqasid al-Shariah in the Criminal Law Reform to Achieve Justice and Human Dignity. Jurnal Hukum Islam, 23(1), 105–144. https://doi.org/10.28918/jhi.v23i1.04
Ismail, D. E., Mantali, A. R. Y., & Moha, M. R. (2023). The concept of revitalising traditional institutions in the criminal law system to realise restorative justice. Jambura Law Review, 5(2), 220–234. https://doi.org/10.33756/jlr.v5i2.11682
Karimullah, S. S. (2023). Prison System Transformation: Delving into Restorative Justice, Rehabilitation, and Religious Life Based on Islamic Law. FITRAH: Jurnal Kajian Ilmu-Ilmu Keislaman, 9(2), 201–224. https://doi.org/10.24952/fitrah.v9i2.8804
Khuchua, T. (2024). The future perspectives of the European Unified Patent Court in the light of the existing intellectual property courts in the United States and Japan. The Journal of World Intellectual Property, 27(3), 488–514. https://doi.org/10.1111/jwip.12314
Lacey, N. (2025). Institutionalising interpersonal ideas in law. The Modern Law Review, 88(1), 3–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12935
Li, S., & You, M. (2025). Mapping restorative justice for green crime offenders: An empirical study of sentencing outcomes in China. Deviant Behavior, 46(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2024.2327555
Liu, J., & Yu, P. (2026). Restorative Justice: The Chinese Paradigm. In Restorative Justice in the UK and China: Encounters, Echoes, and Effects (pp. 29–51). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-22142-1_3
Malazoniia, N. (2025). Restorative Justice. In The Other Side of the Bar: Conflict Transformation in Legal Practice (pp. 43–67). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-9748-9_3
Marshall, C. D. (2020). Restorative justice. Religion Matters: The Contemporary Relevance of Religion, 101–117. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2489-9_7
Maulana, R. F., Saragih, R. A., Yakin, M. A., & Rohmadhayanti, L. D. (2025). Restorative Justice in Indigenous Communities as a Path to Contextual Justice. Jurnal Pelita Raya, 1(2), 122–136. https://doi.org/10.65586/jpr.v1i2.22
McKerracher, K. (2023). Relational legal pluralism and Indigenous legal orders in Canada. Global Constitutionalism, 12(1), 133–153. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045381722000193
McMahon, R., McNally, M. B., Nitschke, E., Napier, K., Alvarez Malvido, M., & Akçayir, M. (2024). Codesigning community networking literacies with rural/remote Northern Indigenous communities in Northwest Territories, Canada. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 29(1), zmad042. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmad042
Minow, M. (2024). JUSTICE IN DIVIDED SOCIETIES Presented as the Horace E. Read Memorial Lecture Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law. American Journal of Law and Equality, 4, 402–426. https://doi.org/10.1162/ajle_a_00064
Nur, E. R., Hasan, Z., & Dahri, H. (2025). Restorative justice in settling criminal case: A normative-empirical study of the law. Volksgeist: Jurnal Ilmu Hukum Dan Konstitusi, 539–552. https://doi.org/10.24090/volksgeist.v8i2.13017
Orr, K., Dickinson, A., & Smythe, E. (2024). The lived experiences of children/young people in the Aotearoa‐New Zealand family court system. Family Court Review, 62(1), 176–193. https://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12773
Palimai, A. F. H., Pawennei, M., & Badaru, B. (2026). The Effectiveness of Restorative Justice in Judicial Decisions: The Transformation of the Sentencing Paradigm in Indonesia. Al-Ishlah: Jurnal Ilmiah Hukum, 29(1), 30–41. https://doi.org/10.56087/j7x6y995
Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Massacusetts Havard University.
Romero-Seseña, P. (2025). Framing European national policies on restorative justice: a frame analysis approach. International Criminology, 5(1), 115–127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43576-025-00161-9
Suyahman, S., Karimullah, S. S., & Syahril, M. A. F. (2025). Intersectionality in Social Justice: Unpacking the Complexity of Oppression. Jambura Law Review, 7(1), 275–308. https://doi.org/10.33756/jlr.v7i1.27828
Ulum, B., Putri, A. S., Dewantoro, M. Z. A., Ragimov, I., & Rukiyanto, B. A. (2025). The Narrative of Pancasila as Indonesia’s Moral Identity in Global Politics. Jurnal Pelita Raya, 1(3), 182–197. https://doi.org/10.65586/jpr.v1i3.32
Wibowo, A., Hartiwiningsih, H., & Sulistyanta, S. (2024). Harmonisation of Restorative Justice Regulation in the Legal System in Indonesia. International Conference on Cultural Policy and Sustainable Development (ICPSD 2024), 352–360. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-315-3_48
Widiartana, G., Setyawan, V. P., & Anditya, A. W. (2025). Exploring restorative justice in domestic violence cases. Journal of Sustainable Development and Regulatory Issues (JSDERI), 3(3), 641–666. https://doi.org/10.53955/jsderi.v3i3.87
Widjajanto, A., Astawa, I. G. P., & Rulyandi, M. (2025). Decolonising restorative justice in Indonesia: A comparative study across Customary Law traditions. Legality: Jurnal Ilmiah Hukum, 33(2), 470–492. https://doi.org/10.22219/ljih.v33i2.40481
Widyawati, A., Adhari, A., Masyhar, A., Deo Syahputra, B., & Purnomo, D. (2025). Dynamics of the penitentiary system, transparent and accountable handling of criminal cases in criminal execution law in Southeast Asia: Convergence and divergence of international perspectives. Indonesia Law Review, 15(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.15742/ilrev.v15n1.1
Yeager, M. G., & Chappelle, M. (2022). Restorative justice: the feasibility of alternative models of justice. Contemporary Justice Review, 25(1), 122–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2021.2009816
Zebel, S., Schreurs, W., & Ufkes, E. G. (2017). Crime seriousness and participation in restorative justice: The role of time elapsed since the offense. Law and Human Behavior, 41(4), 385. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000242
Zhang, Y. (2026). Dancing With Restorative Justice: Chinese Legal Professionals and Their Motivational Postures. Regulation & Governance, 20(1), 289–302. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.70093
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Henny Saida Flora, Rahman Rahman, Rabith Madah Khulaili Harsya, Muhammad Ashraf
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
