Beyond Criminalization: An Actor-Differentiated Environmental Law Reform for Unlicensed Mining
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55681/ijssh.v4i3.3606Keywords:
Environmental Criminal Law, Unlicensed Mining, Actor Differentiation, Forest Areas, Legal ReformulationAbstract
Unlicensed mining (PETI) in the forest areas of Bone Bolango Regency exposes a persistent paradox between repressive statutory norms and a discretionary, largely permissive enforcement practice. This study analyzes the effectiveness of environmental criminal-law enforcement against unlicensed mining and develops an actor-differentiated model for legal reformulation. A qualitative juridical-empirical design was employed, combining regulatory analysis, field observation, in-depth interviews, and a focus group discussion conducted in Tulabolo Village. Data were analyzed using the interactive Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña model, integrated with normative-juridical and thematic analysis. The findings show that, between 2020 and 2025, no enforcement action against unlicensed mining advanced to the pro-justitia stage, even as mining activity continued to function as a structural livelihood system for the local population. The results further reveal cross-regime regulatory disharmony, weak inter-institutional coordination, an asymmetrical relationship between communities and the corporate concession holder, and severely limited access to legalization through the Community Mining Permit (IPR). Building on these findings, the study proposes a three-track reformulation model for environmental criminal law: a restorative-administrative track for subsistence miners, a graduated administrative-criminal track for mid-level facilitators, and a strict criminal track anchored in restoration-based sanctions and profit-proportional fines for corporations and intellectual actors. The model is positioned as a framework for revising the Mineral and Coal Mining Law (UU Minerba) and as a guideline for prosecutorial and police discretion at the regional level, with the aim of strengthening enforcement effectiveness while delivering ecological and social justice that is more proportionate to each actor's structural responsibility.
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