The Separation and Interconnection of Law and Morality: The Hart–Fuller Debate in the Enforcement of Laws Against Child Sexual Violence in Indonesia

Azzahra Cantika Madhina (Fakultas Hukum, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Jakarta)
Rahel Rezky Simanjuntak (Fakultas Hukum, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Jakarta)

Media Hukum Indonesia (MHI)
Vol 4, No 3 (2026): September 2026

The 1958 Hart–Fuller debate is usually read as a dispute over whether morally iniquitous rules remain law. This article asks whether the debate still helps when the problem is reversed: a morally compelling statute, protecting children from sexual violence, that does not operate as written. Using normative legal research with conceptual, statutory, and case approaches, it examines Indonesia’s Child Protection Law, the Sexual Violence Crimes Law (UU TPKS), Supreme Court Circular Letter No. 1 of 2017, and three documented enforcement episodes. It argues that Hart’s separation thesis helps keep legal validity, moral merit, and conventional community morality apart, while Fuller’s internal morality, especially congruence between declared rules and official action, offers diagnostic criteria for the enforcement gap. The gap is traced to conflicts between rules, legislative inconstancy, and, since 2 January 2026, the abolition of special minimum penalties, which turns an enforcement problem into a sentencing-design problem. The findings are illustrative rather than statistically representative.