Recent developments in neurocriminology pose significant epistemological challenges to the legal construction of the capacity for criminal responsibility (toerekeningsvatbaarheid) under Indonesia’s National Criminal Code (Law No. 1 of 2023 in conjunction with Law No. 1 of 2026). Although Articles 38–39 of the National Criminal Code represent an advancement over Article 44 of the Wetboek van Strafrecht (WvS), their legal construction continues to rely on conventional clinical-psychiatric diagnostic parameters that have yet to adequately accommodate scientifically established variations in neurological capacity. Drawing on Progressive Legal Theory (Satjipto Rahardjo) as the grand theory and overarching philosophical framework, and the Theory of Criminal Responsibility (toerekeningsvatbaarheid, as developed by Van Hamel, Pompe, and Sudarto) as the middle-range/applied theory and normative-doctrinal analytical framework, supported by Neurocriminology (Glenn and Raine) and Graded Responsibility (Hirstein) as supplementary analytical instruments, this normative legal study employs statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches to identify three doctrinal inadequacies: the exclusive reliance on Visum et Repertum Psikiatrikum (VeRP) as the sole assessment instrument; the failure to accommodate subclinical neurological impairments; and the structural conflict between the strict liability provisions of Law No. 1 of 2026 and the principle of geen straf zonder schuld enshrined in Article 36(1) of the National Criminal Code. This article proposes a reconstruction based on the Neuro-Contextual Capacity Model, comprising three elements: the expansion of the criteria for assessing the capacity for criminal responsibility, the strengthening of the double-track system through neurological parameters, and the establishment of constitutional limits on strict liability for offenders with measurable neurological impairments.
Sexual violence offenses committed by children represent an increasingly prevalent criminological phenomenon that poses significant challenges in their handling, particularly because children, on the one hand, are individuals entitled to protection but, on the other hand, may also become perpetrators of criminal offenses. This study aims to analyze the factors contributing to sexual violence offenses committed by children and examine these factors from the perspective of Social Learning Theory. This study employs an empirical juridical approach with a descriptive-analytical research design, utilizing primary data obtained through interviews with law enforcement officials at the Central Java Regional Police and secondary data collected through a literature review. The findings indicate that the causes of these offenses cannot be attributed to a single factor but rather arise from the cumulative influence of multiple factors, including early exposure to pornography, inadequate parental supervision and family dysfunction, peer influences, and traumatic experiences of sexual victimization. The most dominant factor is the combination of exposure to pornography and insufficient parental supervision, which contributes to the formation of criminal intent while creating opportunities for such offenses to occur. From the perspective of Social Learning Theory, these behaviors result from learning processes involving observation, imitation, and reinforcement within children’s social environments, leading them to perceive deviant behavior as normal and socially acceptable. This study concludes that children are not born as offenders but become involved in criminal behavior through complex and multilayered social learning processes. Therefore, addressing sexual violence offenses committed by children requires more than a repressive approach; it must also incorporate preventive and rehabilitative measures through strengthening family involvement, providing appropriate sexuality education, and enhancing supervision of children’s social environments and digital media exposure.
This study aims to analyze the construction of maslahah mursalah as a normative parameter for the implementation of hybrid mediation in divorce cases involving Generation Z. Technological developments and the distinctive characteristics of Generation Z require adaptive dispute resolution mechanisms, while the use of electronic mediation in family disputes necessitates a normative foundation capable of safeguarding public benefit and preventing potential mafsadah (harm). This study employs normative legal research using statutory and conceptual approaches. The primary legal materials consist of regulations governing court-annexed mediation, particularly Supreme Court Regulation Number 1 of 2016 and Supreme Court Regulation Number 3 of 2022, while the secondary legal materials include literature on maslahah mursalah, maqasid al-shariah, islah, mediation, and electronic dispute resolution. The analysis is conducted qualitatively and prescriptively through the identification of the principles of maslahah mursalah, the mapping of benefits and potential harms arising from hybrid mediation, an assessment of its conformity with maqasid al-shariah, and an examination of its compatibility with Indonesian positive law. The findings demonstrate that maslahah mursalah can be constructed as a normative parameter for determining the appropriate use of face-to-face, electronic, or combined mechanisms in the mediation of divorce disputes. Such a construction requires that the use of technology in mediation does not conflict with nass, supports the objectives of maqasid al-shariah, particularly hifz al-nasl, hifz al-nafs, and islah, and generates benefits without creating greater harm. Accordingly, hybrid mediation may be positioned as a context-responsive model of family dispute resolution with normative legitimacy under Islamic law, provided that it satisfies the parameters of maslahah and complies with the applicable provisions of Indonesian positive law. This study is not intended to empirically demonstrate a reduction in divorce rates; rather, it seeks to establish a normative foundation for the development of hybrid mediation as a preventive instrument in resolving divorce disputes involving Generation Z.
In 2026, the Semarang District Court adjudicated a case illustrating how artificial intelligence can be misused for criminal purposes. The defendant was found guilty of producing and disseminating more than 300 items of AI-manipulated pornographic content commonly referred to as deepfakes. This technology manipulates a person’s image or video to create highly realistic yet entirely fabricated content, potentially causing victims prolonged psychological trauma and persistent social stigma. The legal complexity intensifies when such cases reach the courtroom because digital evidence is inherently susceptible to manipulation, duplication, and deletion. This article analyzes the judicial reasoning employed in assessing digital evidence and examines its evidentiary value in Decision No. 12/Pid.Sus/2026/PN Smg. The study adopts a normative juridical method using statutory, case, and conceptual approaches, with the court decision serving as the primary source of legal material and without relying on interviews or direct observation. The findings indicate that the judges adequately correlated digital evidence with witness testimony, physical evidence, and the defendant’s confession through an evidentiary construction encompassing juridical, philosophical, and sociological considerations. When assessed against Debra L. Shinder’s four criteria for the admissibility of electronic evidence, the digital evidence in this case satisfied the requirements of relevance and materiality, while its reliability and credibility were reinforced through consistency with other forms of evidence. However, technical authentication could not be fully assessed because the decision did not elaborate on metadata examination, hash values, digital forensic procedures, or chain-of-custody mechanisms, and no digital forensic expert was presented at trial. These findings underscore the need for regulatory harmonization and more specific legal provisions criminalizing deepfake pornography as a distinct criminal offense.
The fulfillment of the right to education for Children with Special Needs (CSN) constitutes part of the State’s obligation to uphold human rights and the principle of non-discrimination. Although Indonesia has enacted various legal instruments governing inclusive education and the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, their implementation continues to face significant challenges, including limited access to inclusive educational services, inadequate reasonable accommodation, and the lack of effective legal protection capable of ensuring equal educational opportunities for children with special needs. These conditions demonstrate a gap between normative legal protection and the substantive realization of the right to education. This study aims to analyze the weaknesses of the existing legal framework governing the protection of children with special needs in the provision of non-discriminatory education in Indonesia and to reconstruct a legal protection model based on the Capability Approach. The study employs a normative legal research method using statutory, conceptual, and philosophical approaches. Legal materials are analyzed qualitatively through a prescriptive analytical method. The findings indicate that the current legal protection framework remains primarily oriented toward the formal recognition of rights and has not fully ensured the actual capabilities of children with special needs to access, participate in, and benefit from education on an equal basis with others. From the perspective of the Capability Approach, legal protection should be reconstructed by placing the development of individual capabilities, the provision of reasonable accommodation, the strengthening of State responsibility, and the creation of an inclusive educational environment at the core of the legal framework. The novelty of this study lies in the development of a reconstructed model of legal protection that extends beyond the fulfillment of normative rights to emphasize the expansion of the actual capabilities of children with special needs to obtain equitable, inclusive, and non-discriminatory education.
