A Philosophical Analysis of Judicial Decisions in Realizing Justice for Society: A Case Study of Purwokerto District Court Decision No. 247/Pid.B/2009/PN.Pwt in the Nenek Minah Case

Muhammad Rasyid Fasya Rizkiyansyah, Ananda Rafli Prabowo

Abstract


A judicial decision ideally embodies three basic values of law at once: justice, legal certainty, and utility. This study analyses Purwokerto District Court Decision Number 247/Pid.B/2009/PN.Pwt, the case of Nenek Minah, who was sentenced to one month and fifteen days of imprisonment with a three-month probationary period for picking three cocoa pods belonging to PT Rumpun Sari Antan. The study applies normative juridical research using the case, statutory, and conceptual approaches. The findings show that the panel of judges tested the elements of Article 362 of the Criminal Code in a legalistic manner, yet at the sentencing stage it relied on conscience by weighing the defendant's age, poverty, and the trivial value of the loss. Through Gustav Radbruch's three values, the decision preserves legal certainty and pursues justice, but its utility remains limited because a case of this kind should not have ended in punishment. Later developments, namely Supreme Court Regulation Number 2 of 2012 and Articles 53 and 54 of Law Number 1 of 2023, show that what the judges practised in this case now has a firmer normative basis.


Keywords


judicial decision; justice; legal certainty; utility; philosophy of law; Nenek Minah

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24129842

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