Discrepancy between policy and practice: a case study on hegemony within an Indonesian juvenile correctional center (LPKA)

William Maxey, Zainal Arifin, Hari Harjanto Setiawan, Sri Setiawati and Rudi Febriamansyah

Children and Youth Services Review, 2025, vol. 177, issue C

Abstract: Indonesia shifted towards a more holistic approach to incarceration emphasizing diversion and rehabilitation with the enactment of Law No. 11 of 2012 on the Juvenile Justice System. Despite the policy shift, this case study uncovers examples of systemic hegemonic practices that remain within a juvenile correctional center as it fails to provide access to justice for incarcerated youth in Indonesia. Data were collected over four months within one of Indonesia’s juvenile correctional centers (Lembaga Pembinaan Khusus Anak, LPKA). Participant observation and ethnographic interviews were conducted with correctional officers (N = 10) and incarcerated male youths (N = 19, aged 14–18), while eight of these nineteen youth participants provided further data for in-depth life stories. The case study findings show Indonesia exerts hegemonic control on three distinct levels, national, institutional, and individual. Hegemony is maintained through four major domains: control of space, a regime of punishment, shaping discourse, and rule-breaking. Hegemony counteracts the goals of the juvenile justice system, rendering the system less effective. This research contributes to the development of new knowledge about systemic hegemonic practices in places which incarcerate youth. The authors suggest Indonesia align its practices with the stated goals of the juvenile justice system and provide specific training for correctional officers based on the newly instituted laws.

Keywords: Incarcerated youth; Indonesian juvenile justice system; Hegemony; Human rights; Juvenile correctional center (Lembaga Pembinaan Khusus Anak, LPKA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740925003524
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:177:y:2025:i:c:s0190740925003524

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108469

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().