Underutilization of Death Row Clemency and Its Implications for Justice and Human Rights
Abstract
The death penalty in Indonesia is controversial because it is contrary to human rights principles, although executions are carried out based on the sovereignty of national law. The uncertainty of the clemency process has a double impact: the convict experiences an unclear fate, and the state is criticized for the inconsistent application of the law. The "death row phenomenon" is recognized as a form of psychological torture for convicts awaiting a decision. This study analyzesdimensions of justice, ethical dimensions and the theoretical framework, as well as victim exclusion in the Indonesian Clemency Law. The study employs a normative method with a legislative and conceptual approach. Data is collected through literature studies of primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. The analysis was conducted qualitatively with legal interpretation. The study identified three dimensions of death penalty clemency: the impact on justice, ethical considerations, and the effect on victims. Gaps were found in the transparency of the process, inconsistent application, low success rate (4.8%), and lack of victim involvement, which hinders psychological recovery. Clemency in the death penalty acts as a mechanism for correcting injustice and protecting human rights, but its implementation shows inconsistency. Regulatory reform is needed that balances retributive justice with humanitarian values through increased transparency, victim involvement, and the establishment of clear substantive criteria.
References
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———. “Clemency in Southeast Asian Death Penalty Cases,” 2014. https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2459414.
———. “Last Chance for Life: Clemency in Southeast Asian Death Penalty Cases,” 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198809715.001.0001.
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Pascoe, Daniel, and Marie Manikis. “Making Sense of the Victim’s Role in Clemency Decision Making.” International Review of Victimology 26 (2018): 28–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269758018805567.
Pascoe, Daniel, and Andrew Novak. “Deadly Justice without Mercy in East Asia?” International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 46 (2020): 141–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2020.1824873.
———. “Deadly Justice without Mercy in East Asia?” International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 46, no. 2 (April 2022): 141–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2020.1824873.
Pérez-León-Acevedo, Juan-Pablo. “Assessing Victim Participation during Sentencing at the International Criminal Court.” Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/JICJ/MQZ021.
Puluhulawa, Irlan. “Granting Clemency To Narcotics Convicts: Overview From The Political Perspective Of Indonesian Criminal Law.” Jurnal Legalitas 14, no. 2 (October 31, 2021): 107–27. https://doi.org/10.33756/jelta.v14i2.11147.
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Roberts, Julian, and Loretta Stalans. “Restorative Sentencing: Exploring the Views of the Public.” Social Justice Research 17 (2004): 315–34. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SORE.0000041296.99271.52.
Sarat, Austin. “Mercy, Clemency, and Capital Punishment: Two Accounts,” 2005.
Setyaningrum, Putri Imaniar, and Setiyono. “Review of the Implementation of Clemency in the Indonesian Criminal Law System.” Journal of Humanities Social Science and Business (JHSSB) 1, no. 1 (November 2021): 81–89. https://doi.org/10.55047/jhssb.v1i1.701.
Sharkey, Kara. “Delay in Considering the Constitutionality of Inordinate Delay: The Death Row Phenomenon and the Eighth Amendment.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 161, no. 3 (2013): 861–96.
Stahn, C, Héctor Olásolo, and K Gibson. “Participation of Victims in Pre-Trial Proceedings of the ICC.” Journal of International Criminal Justice 4 (2006): 219–38. https://doi.org/10.1093/JICJ/MQI089.
Syah, Ary Muktian. “Granting Clemency to Antasari Azhar as the Object of a State Administrative Law Dispute.” Indonesian State Law Review (ISLRev), 2023. https://doi.org/10.15294/islrev.v6i1.68233.
Wenzel, M, T Okimoto, N Feather, and M Platow. “Retributive and Restorative Justice.” Law and Human Behavior 32 (2008): 375–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10979-007-9116-6.
Xia, Jingfeng. “A Comparison of Subject and Institutional Repositories in Self-Archiving Practices.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 34, no. 6 (2008): 489–95. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2008.09.016.
Zaloznaya, Marina, Jennifer Glanville, and W Reisinger. “Explaining Putin’s Impunity: Public Sector Corruption and Political Trust in Russia.” Post-Soviet Affairs 38 (2022): 386–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2022.2063633.
Bowman, Kirsten. “The Politics of Victim Participation in the International Criminal Court,” 2020, 142–60. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429287565-9.
Braun, Kerstin. Victim Participation Rights. Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04546-3.
Burnett, Cathleen. “Justice Denied: Clemency Appeals in Death Penalty Cases,” 2002. https://doi.org/10.2307/1556513.
Calvet, William Cala. “El Principio De Proporcionalidad En La Justicia Ordinaria Y Transicional,” 2019.
Canossini, Erika. “Justifying Leniency at a Time of Punitiveness: Federal Clemency Narratives in the United States.” Punishment and Society 25, no. 5 (2023): 1334–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/14624745231168780.
Cuppini, Alessandra. “The Participation of Victims in International Criminal Proceedings,” 2022. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003215448.
Deki Azhari, and Qurrata Ayuni. “Inkonstitusionalitas Pembatasan Jangka Waktu Pengajuan Grasi Analisis Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi Nomor 107/PUU-XIII/2015.” Jurnal Ilmu Hukum, Humaniora Dan Politik 5, no. 3 (2025): 1826–35. https://doi.org/10.38035/jihhp.v5i3.3855.
Edwards, Ian. “An Ambiguous Participant: The Crime Victim and Criminal Justice Decision-Making.” British Journal of Criminology 44 (2004): 967–82. https://doi.org/10.1093/BJC/AZH050.
Erez, Edna, and Pamela Tontodonato. “Victim Participation in Sentencing and Satisfaction with Justice.” Justice Quarterly 9 (1992): 393–417. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418829200091451.
Fiddin, Mohamad Fahmi, and Karli Karli. “Analysis of Legality Principle in the President’s Authority to Suspend the Execution of Death Penalty Convict Mary Jane Veloso.” FOCUS 4, no. 2 (July 2023): 185–92. https://doi.org/10.37010/fcs.v4i2.1334.
Gumboh, Esther. “The Death Penalty in Malawi: An Assessment against Regional and International Human-Rights Standards.” Southern African Public Law, 2018. https://doi.org/10.25159/2522-6800/4874.
Harmon, Talia Roitberg, James R. Acker, and Craig Rivera. “The Power to Be Lenient: Examining New York Governors’ Capital Case Clemency Decisions.” Justice Quarterly 27, no. 5 (2010): 742–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418820903317453.
Hempel, Olga. “Death Row Phenomenon : A Fate Worse than Death : Torture on Death Row from Psychological and Legal Perspective.” University of Vienna, 2016.
Holder, R, and Elizabeth Englezos. “Victim Participation in Criminal Justice: A Quantitative Systematic and Critical Literature Review.” International Review of Victimology 30 (2023): 25–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/02697580231151207.
Hood, R, and S Deva. “Confronting Capital Punishment in Asia: Human Rights, Politics and Public Opinion,” 2014. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199685776.001.0001.
Hudson, P. “Does the Death Row Phenomenon Violate a Prisoner’s Human Rights under International Law?” European Journal of International Law 11, no. 4 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/11.4.833.
“International and Comparative Law Quarterly.” International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020589320000111.
Jacobsen, Carol, and Lora Bex Lempert. “Institutional Disparities: Considerations of Gender in the Commutation Process for Incarcerated Women.” Signs 39, no. 1 (2013): 265 – 289. https://doi.org/10.1086/670772.
Jouet, Mugambi. “Death Penalty Abolitionism From the Enlightenment to Modernity.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3733016.
Manikis, Marie. “International and Comparative Legal Perspectives on Victim Participation in Criminal Justice,” 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.604.
Maramis, Adrian. “Pemberian Grasi Dalam Ketentuan Perundang-Undangan Yang Berlaku Di Indonesia.” Lex Et Societatis 5, no. 3 (2020): 248–53. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.35796/les.v7i7.26842.
Maslov, W. A. “On the Foreign Practice of Applying the Death Penalty and Chemical Castration as Measures of Criminal Legal Impact.” Вестник Пермского Университета. Юридические Науки, no. 4(58) (2022): 709–37. https://doi.org/10.17072/1995-4190-2022-58-709-736.
Mykhailo, Huzela, Kolb Oleksandr, Tur Mykola, and Vasyliuk Igor. “The Victimity of Subjects of Criminal Processes and the Prevention of Criminal Offenses against Them.” Novum Jus, 2023. https://doi.org/10.14718/novumjus.2023.17.1.1.
Pascoe, Daniel. “An Investigation of Clemency and Pardons in Death Penalty Cases in Southeast Asia from 1975-2009,” 2013.
———. “Clemency in Southeast Asian Death Penalty Cases,” 2014. https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2459414.
———. “Last Chance for Life: Clemency in Southeast Asian Death Penalty Cases,” 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198809715.001.0001.
———. “Republic of Indonesia.” In Last Chance for Life: Clemency in Southeast Asian Death Penalty Cases, 159–92. Oxford University PressOxford, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198809715.003.0007.
———. “Singapore and Thailand: Explaining Differences in Death Penalty Clemency,” 2016, 165–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54942-2_12.
———. “Singapore and Thailand: Explaining Differences in Death Penalty Clemency.” In Comparative Criminology in Asia, 165–83. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54942-2_12.
Pascoe, Daniel, and Marie Manikis. “Making Sense of the Victim’s Role in Clemency Decision Making.” International Review of Victimology 26 (2018): 28–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269758018805567.
Pascoe, Daniel, and Andrew Novak. “Deadly Justice without Mercy in East Asia?” International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 46 (2020): 141–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2020.1824873.
———. “Deadly Justice without Mercy in East Asia?” International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 46, no. 2 (April 2022): 141–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2020.1824873.
Pérez-León-Acevedo, Juan-Pablo. “Assessing Victim Participation during Sentencing at the International Criminal Court.” Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/JICJ/MQZ021.
Puluhulawa, Irlan. “Granting Clemency To Narcotics Convicts: Overview From The Political Perspective Of Indonesian Criminal Law.” Jurnal Legalitas 14, no. 2 (October 31, 2021): 107–27. https://doi.org/10.33756/jelta.v14i2.11147.
———. “Grasi Dalam Kasus Narkotika Di Antara Kebijakan Keadilan Dan Upaya Penegakan Hukum.” Collegium Studiosum Journal 7, no. 1 (June 30, 2024): 221–33. https://doi.org/10.56301/csj.v7i1.1331.
Risal, Chaerul. “Eksistensi Grasi Menurut Perspektif Hukum Pidana.” Jurisprudentie : Jurusan Ilmu Hukum Fakultas Syariah Dan Hukum 4, no. 2 (December 5, 2017): 96. https://doi.org/10.24252/jurisprudentie.v4i2.4055.
Roberts, Julian, and Loretta Stalans. “Restorative Sentencing: Exploring the Views of the Public.” Social Justice Research 17 (2004): 315–34. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SORE.0000041296.99271.52.
Sarat, Austin. “Mercy, Clemency, and Capital Punishment: Two Accounts,” 2005.
Setyaningrum, Putri Imaniar, and Setiyono. “Review of the Implementation of Clemency in the Indonesian Criminal Law System.” Journal of Humanities Social Science and Business (JHSSB) 1, no. 1 (November 2021): 81–89. https://doi.org/10.55047/jhssb.v1i1.701.
Sharkey, Kara. “Delay in Considering the Constitutionality of Inordinate Delay: The Death Row Phenomenon and the Eighth Amendment.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 161, no. 3 (2013): 861–96.
Stahn, C, Héctor Olásolo, and K Gibson. “Participation of Victims in Pre-Trial Proceedings of the ICC.” Journal of International Criminal Justice 4 (2006): 219–38. https://doi.org/10.1093/JICJ/MQI089.
Syah, Ary Muktian. “Granting Clemency to Antasari Azhar as the Object of a State Administrative Law Dispute.” Indonesian State Law Review (ISLRev), 2023. https://doi.org/10.15294/islrev.v6i1.68233.
Wenzel, M, T Okimoto, N Feather, and M Platow. “Retributive and Restorative Justice.” Law and Human Behavior 32 (2008): 375–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10979-007-9116-6.
Xia, Jingfeng. “A Comparison of Subject and Institutional Repositories in Self-Archiving Practices.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 34, no. 6 (2008): 489–95. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2008.09.016.
Zaloznaya, Marina, Jennifer Glanville, and W Reisinger. “Explaining Putin’s Impunity: Public Sector Corruption and Political Trust in Russia.” Post-Soviet Affairs 38 (2022): 386–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2022.2063633.
Published
2025-10-12
How to Cite
PAKPAHAN, Hatarto.
Underutilization of Death Row Clemency and Its Implications for Justice and Human Rights.
Jurnal Dinamika Hukum, [S.l.], v. 25, n. 3, p. 200-219, oct. 2025.
ISSN 2407-6562.
Available at: <https://jos.unsoed.ac.id/index.php/jdh/article/view/15994>. Date accessed: 03 nov. 2025.
doi: https://doi.org/10.20884/1.jdh.2025.25.3.15994.
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