Journal of Strafvordering Indonesian
Vol. 2 No. 3 (2025): JOSI - JULY

Legal Feminization: Dissecting Gender Inequality in Judges' Decisions in Sexual Violence Cases

Henny Saida Flora (Universitas Katolik Santo Thomas)
Henry Aspan (Universitas Pembangunan Panca Budi, Medan)



Article Info

Publish Date
18 Jul 2025

Abstract

This study examines the implementation of Law Number 12 of 2022 concerning the Crime of Sexual Violence (TPKS Law) in criminal justice practice with a focus on gender inequality in legal reasoning and judges' juridical arguments. The TPKS Law exists as a progressive legal instrument that emphasizes a victim-based approach and the principle of non-discrimination, as well as accommodates previously unrecognized forms of non-physical sexual violence. However, the effectiveness of these norms is still constrained by judicial practices that are often based on conventional legal paradigms and patriarchal biases. The normative juridical approach is used to analyze positive legal norms, court decisions, and feminist legal concepts, in order to assess the extent to which the principles of the TPKS Law are internalized by judges. The results of the study show that many decisions still question the credibility of victims and ignore the psychosocial dimension of sexual violence, thus perpetuating the practice of victimization. The low sensitivity of gender in legal considerations shows the need for legal feminization as an effort for epistemological and structural transformation in the judicial system. These findings underscore the importance of gender-sensitive judicial training and criminal procedure law reform so that the law can function as a means of substantive justice. This study recommends the integration of legal feminist values as a normative and interpretive framework in sexual violence cases.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

JOSI

Publisher

Subject

Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice

Description

The journal publishes original articles on current issues and international trends in the field of criminal law. The purpose of the publication of this Journal is to provide a space to publish critical thinking on original research results, as well as conceptual ideas from academics, researchers, ...