Legal Transformation for Sustainable Justice: Strengthening the Role and Position of Sexual Violence Victims in Indonesia

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_47How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Justice; Sexual Violence; Victims; Victim Impact Statement

Abstract

Sexual violence constitutes not only a violation of the law but also a breach of human rights, inflicting profound harm on victims. In Indonesia, the criminal justice system continues to focus primarily on perpetrators, often neglecting the participation of victims, which increases the risk of revictimization. Sustainable justice is essential to ensure that the legal process does not stop at punishing offenders but also upholds victims rights to be heard and actively involved in judicial proceedings through the implementation of Victim Impact Statements (VIS). In several countries, VIS not only strengthens victims’ positions in seeking justice but also enhances the quality of judicial decisions. Law No. 12 of 2022 concerning Sexual Violence Crimes (SVC Law) does not explicitly regulate VIS in criminal proceedings. This gap poses challenges for developing a justice system that fully restores victims’ rights and dignity. This article examines the urgency of regulating VIS-based protection for victims of sexual violence within Indonesia’s criminal justice system. It explores how a VIS regulatory framework can serve as a mechanism for providing sustainable protection for these victims. Using a normative juridical methodology that combines statutory, conceptual, and comparative research, the study finds that VIS is a critical instrument in realizing sustainable, recovery-oriented justice. It allows victims to articulate the physical, psychological, social, and emotional impacts of the crimes they have endured, enabling judges to make informed and appropriate decisions. Explicit regulation of VIS in the SVC Law is necessary to ensure that the law is responsive to societal needs and contributes to a more just criminal justice system that upholds human dignity.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Febrianika Maharani
AU  - Galieh Damayanti
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/07
TI  - Legal Transformation for Sustainable Justice: Strengthening the Role and Position of Sexual Violence Victims in Indonesia
BT  - Proceedings of the UUM 13th International Legal Conference 2025 (UUMILC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 675
EP  - 687
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_47
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_47
ID  - Maharani2026
ER  -