Begawan Abioso

The Evolution of Cyber Mercenaries: Criminal Responsibility of Non-State Actors under International Law in Cyber Conflict

Femas Adi Saputra — 2026-08-10

The rapid advancement of information and communication technologies in the twenty-first century has fundamentally transformed the landscape of modern warfare, giving rise to cyberspace as a new domain of armed conflict. This transformation has been accompanied by the emergence of non-state actors operating as proxies or cyber mercenaries employed by states to conduct strategic cyber operations while maintaining plausible deniability. This study aims to examine the evolution and legal status of cyber mercenaries within the framework of International Humanitarian Law and to evaluate the extent to which criminal responsibility may be imposed on these actors under the Rome Statute and the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Employing a normative juridical legal research method with conceptual and statutory approaches, the study finds that the traditional definition of mercenaries under Article 47 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions is ill-suited to the realities of cyber proxies, thereby creating a significant legal gap. Furthermore, although the Rome Statute does not explicitly regulate cyber crimes, a consequences-based approach allows cyber mercenaries to be prosecuted for war crimes when cyber operations result in physical damage or the loss of functionality of civilian infrastructure equivalent to that caused by kinetic attacks. The study concludes that existing legal instruments require reinterpretation, supported by proactive policies within the framework of international criminal justice, to ensure individual criminal accountability for increasingly destructive contemporary cyber conflicts.

Combating Digital Transnational Organized Crime: Assessing the Effectiveness of Mutual Legal Assistance for Indonesia

Gusti Rafi Muhammad — 2026-08-10

Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) in the digital era has evolved into an increasingly complex global threat, characterized by the convergence of cyber fraud, underground banking, and virtual asset-based money laundering. In Indonesia, such criminal activities have resulted in substantial economic losses by exploiting cross-border jurisdictional gaps and weaknesses in domestic regulatory frameworks. This study examines the effectiveness of Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) mechanisms under Law Number 1 of 2006 in addressing transnational cybercrime and evaluates the urgency of international legal harmonization. The novelty of this study lies in its specific examination of the structural incompatibility between Indonesia’s traditional MLA mechanisms and the ontological characteristics of contemporary cybercrime involving cloud computing ecosystems, virtual asset-based underground banking, and the malware-as-a-service phenomenon. Employing a normative juridical method based on statutory and conceptual approaches, the study finds that conventional MLA mechanisms are no longer effective. This ineffectiveness fundamentally stems from a temporal asymmetry between lengthy MLA bureaucratic procedures, which may take months to complete, and the operational speed of digital crime, which can occur within seconds. Moreover, the rigidity of the dual criminality principle and the volatility of electronic evidence across jurisdictions further impede effective law enforcement. At the regional level, the ASEAN Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty is similarly constrained by the principle of non-interference and the absence of mechanisms for the immediate preservation of digital data. The study concludes that Indonesia urgently needs to accede to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. Such accession is crucial for overcoming jurisdictional barriers, facilitating the immediate exchange of digital evidence through the 24/7 Network, and curbing jurisdictional arbitrage by transnational criminal syndicates.

The Effectiveness of Tangerang Mayor Regulation Number 111 of 2022: An Analysis Based on Lawrence M. Friedman’s Legal System Theory

Sheren Christabella Nathanael — 2026-08-11

Plastic waste has become an increasingly serious environmental problem in Tangerang City, particularly due to the extensive use of single-use plastic bags in traditional markets, shopping centers, supermarkets, and restaurants. As a regulatory response, the Tangerang City Government enacted Tangerang Mayor Regulation Number 111 of 2022 concerning Restrictions on the Use of Plastic Bags. This study employs a normative-empirical legal research method using a statutory approach. The findings indicate that the implementation of Tangerang Mayor Regulation Number 111 of 2022 has not yet been optimal. From the perspective of legal substance, ambiguity remains regarding the “gradual” implementation of the policy in traditional markets. In terms of legal structure, public dissemination and regulatory supervision by the local government remain insufficient, resulting in a limited understanding among business operators of their obligation to use environmentally friendly shopping bags. From the perspective of legal culture, the prevailing public preference for free plastic bags and economic considerations among traders constitute major factors contributing to the low level of compliance with the regulation. The study concludes that the effective implementation of Tangerang Mayor Regulation Number 111 of 2022 requires stronger integration among legal substance, legal structure, and legal culture. Accordingly, strengthened public dissemination, consistent regulatory supervision, and greater collaboration among the local government, market administrators, business operators, and the public are necessary to achieve the intended reduction in plastic waste.

Legal Protection of Bankrupt Debtors and Creditors Against Curators’ Actions That Diminish the Bankruptcy Estate

Mochamad Ginandjar Sugih Rahardja — 2026-08-26

The curator exercises control over the bankruptcy estate, including its receipts and expenditures, under the supervision of the supervisory judge in bankruptcy proceedings. In practice, however, some curators may engage in unlawful acts that diminish the bankruptcy estate, thereby causing losses to both bankrupt debtors and their creditors. Legal protection for bankrupt debtors and creditors, together with effective legal measures, is therefore necessary to ensure legal certainty and justice for both parties. This study aims to evaluate the structural weaknesses in the supervisory judge’s institutional oversight of the curator’s attributed authority and to formulate effective repressive legal measures available to debtors and creditors in response to unlawful acts or criminal offenses committed by curators that demonstrably cause losses to the bankruptcy estate. This study employs a normative juridical research method with a descriptive-analytical research specification. The supervisory judge may exercise oversight through passive, proactive, or responsive approaches. Although the supervisory judge may adopt any of these three approaches, there is no obligation to apply any particular approach. The supervisory judge also serves to limit the curator’s powers and authority within a system of checks and balances. Creditors and bankrupt debtors who suffer losses as a result of unlawful acts committed by a curator may pursue criminal and/or civil legal remedies.

Realizing Post-Divorce Enforcement Justice through Progressive Law Enforcement within the Framework of Risalah al-Qadha

Fikri Ahmad Islami — 2026-09-06

This study aims to analyze the integration of Risalah al-Qada’ values and progressive law in realizing executorial justice post-divorce in the Religious Courts. Employing a normative legal research method with a qualitative interpretative-conceptual approach, data were gathered through a literature review of progressive law, Risalah al-Qada’, and court decisions. Data validity was ensured through critical reading and literature triangulation. The findings reveal that the integration of these two paradigms is capable of dismantling the executorial deadlock trapped in positivist formalism, by encouraging judges to engage in judicial activism and legal discovery (rechtsvinding) that favors vulnerable groups. However, structural challenges such as patriarchal culture, institutional passivity, and reliance on the ex-wife’s initiative remain critical obstacles that perpetuate the execution gap. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that the implementation of Risalah al-Qada’ values not only provides a prophetic-ethical foundation for judicial activism but also actualizes the principles of Maqasid al-Shari’ah through the substantive protection of life, lineage, and wealth (hifz al-nafs, hifz al-nasl, hifz al-mal) for ex-wives and children.

Reconstructing a Land Rights Conflict Resolution Model Based on Local Wisdom and Legal Literacy in Kulim Subdistrict

Ilhamdi Ilhamdi — 2026-09-19

Land rights conflict is a recurring structural problem in adat-urban transition areas experiencing rapid land-use conversion, including Kulim Subdistrict, Pekanbaru City, where settlement and industrial expansion frequently collides with customary land tenure claims, while litigation is regarded as slow, costly, and disregards social cohesion. This study aims to reconstruct a land conflict resolution model that integrates local wisdom with the strengthening of community legal literacy. A normative-empirical legal method was applied through a literature-based approach and comparative analysis of customary land dispute cases in Riau Province. The findings indicate that customary deliberation gains greater social acceptance than pure litigation, yet its effectiveness is weakened by the community's limited legal literacy regarding land status, evidentiary procedures, and registration. The reconstructed model rests on three tiered pillars: strengthening customary institutions as first-tier mediators, integrating customary procedures into the formal mediation framework under Supreme Court Regulation Number 1 of 2016, and sustained legal literacy programs for the community. This model is expected to serve as a more participatory, equitable, and sustainable dispute resolution alternative for Kulim Subdistrict and other comparable adat-urban transition areas.

Reconstructing Legal Protection for Children with Special Needs through Non-Discriminatory Education: A Capability Approach

Ajeng Indriastari — 2026-09-21

The fulfillment of the right to education for Children with Special Needs (CSN) constitutes part of the State’s obligation to uphold human rights and the principle of non-discrimination. Although Indonesia has enacted various legal instruments governing inclusive education and the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, their implementation continues to face significant challenges, including limited access to inclusive educational services, inadequate reasonable accommodation, and the lack of effective legal protection capable of ensuring equal educational opportunities for children with special needs. These conditions demonstrate a gap between normative legal protection and the substantive realization of the right to education. This study aims to analyze the weaknesses of the existing legal framework governing the protection of children with special needs in the provision of non-discriminatory education in Indonesia and to reconstruct a legal protection model based on the Capability Approach. The study employs a normative legal research method using statutory, conceptual, and philosophical approaches. Legal materials are analyzed qualitatively through a prescriptive analytical method. The findings indicate that the current legal protection framework remains primarily oriented toward the formal recognition of rights and has not fully ensured the actual capabilities of children with special needs to access, participate in, and benefit from education on an equal basis with others. From the perspective of the Capability Approach, legal protection should be reconstructed by placing the development of individual capabilities, the provision of reasonable accommodation, the strengthening of State responsibility, and the creation of an inclusive educational environment at the core of the legal framework. The novelty of this study lies in the development of a reconstructed model of legal protection that extends beyond the fulfillment of normative rights to emphasize the expansion of the actual capabilities of children with special needs to obtain equitable, inclusive, and non-discriminatory education.

Maslahah Mursalah as a Foundation for Implementing Hybrid Islamic Mediation to Prevent Divorce among Generation Z

Darmisah Darmisah — 2026-10-01

This study aims to analyze the construction of maslahah mursalah as a normative parameter for the implementation of hybrid mediation in divorce cases involving Generation Z. Technological developments and the distinctive characteristics of Generation Z require adaptive dispute resolution mechanisms, while the use of electronic mediation in family disputes necessitates a normative foundation capable of safeguarding public benefit and preventing potential mafsadah (harm). This study employs normative legal research using statutory and conceptual approaches. The primary legal materials consist of regulations governing court-annexed mediation, particularly Supreme Court Regulation Number 1 of 2016 and Supreme Court Regulation Number 3 of 2022, while the secondary legal materials include literature on maslahah mursalah, maqasid al-shariah, islah, mediation, and electronic dispute resolution. The analysis is conducted qualitatively and prescriptively through the identification of the principles of maslahah mursalah, the mapping of benefits and potential harms arising from hybrid mediation, an assessment of its conformity with maqasid al-shariah, and an examination of its compatibility with Indonesian positive law. The findings demonstrate that maslahah mursalah can be constructed as a normative parameter for determining the appropriate use of face-to-face, electronic, or combined mechanisms in the mediation of divorce disputes. Such a construction requires that the use of technology in mediation does not conflict with nass, supports the objectives of maqasid al-shariah, particularly hifz al-nasl, hifz al-nafs, and islah, and generates benefits without creating greater harm. Accordingly, hybrid mediation may be positioned as a context-responsive model of family dispute resolution with normative legitimacy under Islamic law, provided that it satisfies the parameters of maslahah and complies with the applicable provisions of Indonesian positive law. This study is not intended to empirically demonstrate a reduction in divorce rates; rather, it seeks to establish a normative foundation for the development of hybrid mediation as a preventive instrument in resolving divorce disputes involving Generation Z.

The Evidentiary Value of Digital Evidence in Deepfake Pornography Cases: A Legal Analysis of Decision No. 12/Pid.Sus/2026/PN Smg

Gizky Nazwa Waluyo — 2026-10-01

In 2026, the Semarang District Court adjudicated a case illustrating how artificial intelligence can be misused for criminal purposes. The defendant was found guilty of producing and disseminating more than 300 items of AI-manipulated pornographic content commonly referred to as deepfakes. This technology manipulates a person’s image or video to create highly realistic yet entirely fabricated content, potentially causing victims prolonged psychological trauma and persistent social stigma. The legal complexity intensifies when such cases reach the courtroom because digital evidence is inherently susceptible to manipulation, duplication, and deletion. This article analyzes the judicial reasoning employed in assessing digital evidence and examines its evidentiary value in Decision No. 12/Pid.Sus/2026/PN Smg. The study adopts a normative juridical method using statutory, case, and conceptual approaches, with the court decision serving as the primary source of legal material and without relying on interviews or direct observation. The findings indicate that the judges adequately correlated digital evidence with witness testimony, physical evidence, and the defendant’s confession through an evidentiary construction encompassing juridical, philosophical, and sociological considerations. When assessed against Debra L. Shinder’s four criteria for the admissibility of electronic evidence, the digital evidence in this case satisfied the requirements of relevance and materiality, while its reliability and credibility were reinforced through consistency with other forms of evidence. However, technical authentication could not be fully assessed because the decision did not elaborate on metadata examination, hash values, digital forensic procedures, or chain-of-custody mechanisms, and no digital forensic expert was presented at trial. These findings underscore the need for regulatory harmonization and more specific legal provisions criminalizing deepfake pornography as a distinct criminal offense.

A Criminological Analysis of the Factors Contributing to Sexual Violence Offenses Committed by Children: A Case Study at the Central Java Regional Police

Racha Gusty Recoba Satya Nugraha — 2026-10-18

Sexual violence offenses committed by children represent an increasingly prevalent criminological phenomenon that poses significant challenges in their handling, particularly because children, on the one hand, are individuals entitled to protection but, on the other hand, may also become perpetrators of criminal offenses. This study aims to analyze the factors contributing to sexual violence offenses committed by children and examine these factors from the perspective of Social Learning Theory. This study employs an empirical juridical approach with a descriptive-analytical research design, utilizing primary data obtained through interviews with law enforcement officials at the Central Java Regional Police and secondary data collected through a literature review. The findings indicate that the causes of these offenses cannot be attributed to a single factor but rather arise from the cumulative influence of multiple factors, including early exposure to pornography, inadequate parental supervision and family dysfunction, peer influences, and traumatic experiences of sexual victimization. The most dominant factor is the combination of exposure to pornography and insufficient parental supervision, which contributes to the formation of criminal intent while creating opportunities for such offenses to occur. From the perspective of Social Learning Theory, these behaviors result from learning processes involving observation, imitation, and reinforcement within children’s social environments, leading them to perceive deviant behavior as normal and socially acceptable. This study concludes that children are not born as offenders but become involved in criminal behavior through complex and multilayered social learning processes. Therefore, addressing sexual violence offenses committed by children requires more than a repressive approach; it must also incorporate preventive and rehabilitative measures through strengthening family involvement, providing appropriate sexuality education, and enhancing supervision of children’s social environments and digital media exposure.

Reconstructing the Concept of Criminal Responsibility Capacity: Neurocriminology in Indonesia’s National Criminal Code: Law No. 1 of 2023 in Conjunction with Law No. 1 of 2026

Najwa Hanif Artfian Arrasyid Aulia Putra — 2026-10-18

Recent developments in neurocriminology pose significant epistemological challenges to the legal construction of the capacity for criminal responsibility (toerekeningsvatbaarheid) under Indonesia’s National Criminal Code (Law No. 1 of 2023 in conjunction with Law No. 1 of 2026). Although Articles 38–39 of the National Criminal Code represent an advancement over Article 44 of the Wetboek van Strafrecht (WvS), their legal construction continues to rely on conventional clinical-psychiatric diagnostic parameters that have yet to adequately accommodate scientifically established variations in neurological capacity. Drawing on Progressive Legal Theory (Satjipto Rahardjo) as the grand theory and overarching philosophical framework, and the Theory of Criminal Responsibility (toerekeningsvatbaarheid, as developed by Van Hamel, Pompe, and Sudarto) as the middle-range/applied theory and normative-doctrinal analytical framework, supported by Neurocriminology (Glenn and Raine) and Graded Responsibility (Hirstein) as supplementary analytical instruments, this normative legal study employs statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches to identify three doctrinal inadequacies: the exclusive reliance on Visum et Repertum Psikiatrikum (VeRP) as the sole assessment instrument; the failure to accommodate subclinical neurological impairments; and the structural conflict between the strict liability provisions of Law No. 1 of 2026 and the principle of geen straf zonder schuld enshrined in Article 36(1) of the National Criminal Code. This article proposes a reconstruction based on the Neuro-Contextual Capacity Model, comprising three elements: the expansion of the criteria for assessing the capacity for criminal responsibility, the strengthening of the double-track system through neurological parameters, and the establishment of constitutional limits on strict liability for offenders with measurable neurological impairments.