Industry Strategies for Promoting, Strengthening, and Empowering Customary Villages to Reduce Prison Population in the Perspective of the Tourism Industry

Abstract

Research-based community service on efforts to reduce the burden on the state of keeping criminals in prison has never been conducted so far. This work is the first of its kind and contains an urgent nature, as well as strategic in order to improve the welfare of society. The illustration is that as of 27 April 2023 the number of prisoners in Indonesia reached approximately 275,518 people. Expenditure on consumption per day is 50,000 IDR for each prisoner. This means that every day the burden on the Indonesian state budget, originating from taxes paid by the people, reaches 13,775,900,000 IDR. In addition, another phenomenon concerning the number of prisons in Indonesia that are overcrowded by prisoners is the emergence of various types of problems. These include drug trafficking within prisons, escapes of inmates from prisons, riots that result in loss of life and large amounts of property being needlessly damaged. This research addresses the following issues: (1) what types of cases can be resolved through customary law in the community? (2) How should customary court procedural law be applied to fulfil the community’s sense of justice? (3) Is there an impact of promoting, strengthening, and empowering customary village institutions on the development of the tourism industry? In conducting the research, several methods were used, namely lectures, discussions, dialogues, field observations, and literature reviews. The theories used to analyse the problem under study were social engineering theory, justice theory, and legal system theory. This research concludes that it is indeed feasible to apply customary law mediation in solving legal problems that occur in the community. Regarding customary justice procedural law, all kinds of problems are resolved by deliberation to reach consensus through mediation guided by the customary chief. If the prison population can be significantly reduced, the cost of maintaining criminals will be reduced and the prison can be used as an educational tourist attraction for students and the community.