Adopting the Concept of Green Victimology in Recognizing the Environment as ‘Victims’ within the Indonesian Criminal Justice

Abstract

The absence of a conceptual foundation for green victimology in Indonesian legislation and criminal justice is reflected in the continued in personam orientation of victim determination, resulting in environmental harm where natural resources and ecosystems are the affected entities not being explicitly recognized as victims under normative legal frameworks. This research aims to analyze the conceptual urgency of adopting ‘green victimology’ within the Indonesian legal system in order to ensure that legal actors are obliged to acknowledge non-human components as ‘victims’ of environmental crimes. Employing normative legal research, this research applies a statutory approach to legislation governing criminal procedure and environmental protection, complemented by a comparative analysis with the United States and Ecuador to derive established conceptual models of green victimology. The findings indicate, first, that Indonesian regulations may be assessed through two classifications: (1) an assessment of primary rules and (2) an assessment of secondary rules. Second, the comparative analysis demonstrates that the United States incorporates environmental justice values into green victimology, while Ecuador has constitutionally institutionalized the rights of nature (pachamama). Third, accordingly, this research proposes a framework for the adoption of green victimology in Indonesia based on the concept of ‘Ecocentrism-Based Green Victimology’, intended to serve as a philosophical, juridical, and sociological foundation for recognizing non-human components as victims within Indonesian substantive criminal law and criminal procedure.