Reconstructing Indonesian Islamic Family Law through Progressive Law and Psychological Approaches for Addressing Psychological Violence

Y.S. Tenra Septu Amin

doi:10.15548/alahkam.v17i1.14912

Reconstructing Indonesian Islamic Family Law through Progressive Law and Psychological Approaches for Addressing Psychological Violence

Y.S. Tenra Septu Amin

Abstract

Psychological violence presents a persistent challenge for Indonesian family law because its effects are often relational, cumulative, and difficult to demonstrate through conventional forms of legal proof. This study addresses the continuing gap between legal recognition and judicial implementation by examining how non-physical harm is interpreted, assessed as evidence, and incorporated into decision-making in family disputes. Using a qualitative socio-legal approach based on library research, the study analyses Law No. 23 of 2004 on the Elimination of Domestic Violence, Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 2016 on Mediation Procedure in Courts, Supreme Court Regulation No. 3 of 2017 on Guidelines for Adjudicating Cases Involving Women in Conflict with the Law, relevant Religious Court and Badilag institutional materials, and recent scholarship on progressive law, trauma psychology, Islamic family law, and maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah. The findings indicate that Indonesian law and Islamic legal principles already provide a normative basis for recognising psychological violence, but judicial reasoning, evidentiary assessment, and mediation practices remain insufficiently responsive to its cumulative and non-physical character. The study therefore supports contextual assessment of relational evidence, psychological expertise, early violence screening, and trauma-sensitive judicial practice. The novelty of this study lies in developing an integrated adjudicative model that connects normative recognition of psychological violence with evidentiary reasoning, trauma, unequal power relations, and mediation within Religious Court practice. This model contributes to the development of Islamic family law by advancing a more contextual, psychologically informed, and substantively just approach to family adjudication.

Keywords

Islamic Family Law; Progressive Legal Philosophy; Psychological Violence; Religious Courts; Substantive Justice

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.15548/alahkam.v17i1.14912