Optimization of Criminal Sanctions against Corporations in Restoring Environmental Functions: An Ecological Justice Study

Abstract

Research on criminal sanctions against corporations in the restoration of environmental functions has been widely conducted. However, the crucial step of optimizing these sanctions within the framework of ecological justice still presents significant challenges. This paper aims to examine the form of corporate criminal liability in environmental damage cases in Indonesia and explore the optimization of criminal sanctions by ecological justice. This study employs a doctrinal legal research method, using secondary data of primary and secondary legal materials, particularly those related to ecological justice, analyzed through deductive syllogism techniques. The results demonstrate two key findings. First, corporate liability has been progressively regulated through Law Number 32 of 2009, Law Number 3 of 2020, and Law Number 6 of 2023. However, a firmer application of strict liability, vicarious liability, and Identification Theory is required to ensure justice, emphasizing ecological restoration and environmental rights protection. Sanctions should involve fines and incorporate mandatory ecological recovery actions, restoration of impacted indigenous territories, and holistic socio-ecological repair. Second, ecological justice necessitates that corporations responsible for environmental harm are punished and compelled to provide compensation and actively participate in environmental restoration. This approach shifts criminal law from retributive towards restorative-ecological, where sanction optimization involves punitive measures with recovery obligations, reinforcing the corporate status as legal subjects, applying the polluter pays principle, developing ecological loss valuation systems, and formally recognizing the rights of nature.