The Urgency of Judge Forgiveness (Rechterlijke Pardon) in The Perspective of a Restorative Justice Approach in The Military Court

Rechterlijke Pardon Military Court; Restorative Justice.

Authors

3 July 2025
1 August 2025

Restorative Justice is a form of punishment that focuses on restoring the situation by involving the perpetrator, victim / or family and the community so that reconciliation occurs instead of retaliation.  The legal basis for the restorative justice approach is Perma Number 1 of 2024. There are several obstacles to the application of restorative justice in the military criminal justice system, including in terms of substance, institutions and the legal culture of law enforcement officials. One of them is the application of restorative justice can only be in the form of the imposition of a conditional sentence (Voorwaardelijke veroordeling) as mandated by Perma 1/2024. Ironically, the imposition of conditional punishment results in the application of Administrative Sanctions for TNI soldiers in contrast to the imposition of conditional punishment in general court. Therefore, with the problem, the author wants to provide a concept of thought through a decision in the form of a judge's forgiveness (Rechterlijke Pardon). The concept of judge's pardon has never been practiced by judges in military courts because there is no legal basis. However, with the principle of freedom of judges, independence based on the principles of integrity and professionalism, judges can conduct legal discovery (Rechtvinding) through the method of interpretation. And in the end, the judge's forgiveness is a solution step and absolutely must be done because with a decision in the form of a judge's forgiveness, the perpetrator is not sentenced to punishment or action so that the perpetrator is not punished. and actions so that it will not have an impact on the application of administrative sanctions for TNI soldiers who commit criminal offenses.