Legal Protection for Victims of Domestic Violence through Penal Mediation in Indonesia

Domestic violence remains a frequently occurring social issue in Indonesia, with the majority of perpetrators being husbands or fathers, and the victims being women and children. The current criminal law paradigm leans toward a restorative approach, prioritizing penal mediation over litigation. The purpose of this study is to analyze legal protection for women's and children's rights in domestic violence, as well as penal mediation as a means of protecting victims' rights in Indonesia. This article employs a normative legal method, with a statutory and conceptual approach. Data were collected through literature studies, which were then processed and reviewed descriptive-qualitatively. The results show that the legal protection provided by Law No. 23 of 2004 concerning the Elimination of Domestic Violence is quite detailed but only offers short and temporary protection. The protection is also more oriented towards a repressive paradigm than preventive, meaning that protection is only provided after a crime has occurred. This study recommends that penal mediation be attempted in domestic violence cases as a concept that is in accordance with the restorative justice principle, which must be attempted at all stages of criminal proceedings, such as investigation, prosecution, and examination of cases in court, so that the criminal law paradigm that focuses on restorative justice can be implemented more comprehensively for both victims and perpetrators.