Justice at the Margins: Negotiating Criminal Liability within Legal Pluralism among the Suku Anak Dalam Indigenous Community in Indonesia

Abstract

Criminal liability for murder in Indonesia is complex when perpetrators originate from indigenous communities that maintain customary legal systems. In this context, differences between the national Criminal Code (KUHP), Islamic criminal law, and indigenous norms create challenges in defining responsibility and determining appropriate punishment. A case including the Anak Dalam (Suku Anak Dalam/SAD) community in Jambi shows how marginalized groups often exist outside formal legal frameworks, leading to legal uncertainty. Previous studies tend to examine legal doctrine or indigenous culture separately, leaving limited analysis concerning the interaction of the systems. The gap reports the need for an integrated method to criminal accountability that accommodates legal pluralism. Therefore, this study used a descriptive qualitative method combined with normative legal research. Data were collected through document analysis of primary and secondary legal sources, including statutory regulations, the Criminal Code, Qur’anic principles, and relevant scholarly literature. NVivo 12 Plus software was used to conduct qualitative coding, cluster analysis, and word frequency mapping to identify key sub-factors. The results showed that criminal responsibility in cases comprising the Suku Anak Dalam (SAD) reflects the operation of legal pluralism. Formal law enforcement is limited through structural and socio-cultural barriers, namely language differences, internal solidarity, testimonial reluctance, evidentiary limitations, customary norms, and semi- nomadic residence patterns. Beyond procedural constraints, criminal accountability was shaped by the interaction between state criminal, Islamic criminal, and indigenous customary law. Each system offered distinct concepts of justice, sanction, and responsibility. These normative frameworks intersected and negotiated outcomes, producing differentiated enforcement patterns within a plural legal environment.