Reconstructing the Sentencing Framework for Minor Offenses through Restorative Justice: Toward Substantive Justice

Abstract

This study examines the reconstruction of the sentencing framework for minor offenses through a restorative justice approach to advance substantive justice. The Indonesian criminal justice system remains predominantly retributive, prioritizing punitive sanctions while insufficiently addressing victim restoration, social reconciliation, and community-based justice values. This orientation creates a persistent gap between formal legal certainty and the realization of substantive justice, particularly in minor criminal cases where proportionality and social harm are limited. This research aims to develop an integrative sentencing framework that systematically embeds restorative justice as a central paradigm. A normative juridical method is employed, incorporating statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches to critically analyze existing legal frameworks and institutional practices. The findings reveal that the implementation of restorative justice in minor offenses remains fragmented, sectoral, and lacks systemic coherence within the national criminal law system. To address this limitation, this study proposes a reconstructed sentencing framework grounded in four key dimensions: regulatory reform, institutional harmonization among law enforcement agencies, transformation of legal actors’ paradigms, and recognition of living law as a legitimate normative foundation. This study offers a structured model that repositions restorative justice from a complementary mechanism to a core component of the sentencing system. This study contributes to the advancement of criminal law theory and practice by bridging retributive and restorative approaches within a unified framework. The proposed model is expected to enhance victim recovery, strengthen offender accountability, and promote community participation, thereby advancing the realization of substantive justice.