Restorative Justice: A Suitable Response to Environmental Crime in Indonesia?

Restorative justice is a way of responding to criminal offences by balancing the needs of the community, the victims and the offenders. It aims to bring all these parties together to collectively resolve the consequences of crime, including the harm caused, with a view to future generations. In the Indonesian legal system, restorative processes have not yet been used to deal with environmental crimes, despite a growing interest in exploring their potential. Therefore, this paper seeks to demonstrate that restorative justice solutions addressing environmental crimes benefit the victims, the offenders, the community and the environment. Further, these solutions may prove to be useful as well as additional discretion to local authorities for redressing the damage to the environment.