Abstract
Purpose – The implementation of a restorative justice approach for addressing crimes related to sexual harassment in Islamic universities is currently eliciting both support and opposition. Therefore, this research aimed to examine the perception of students, which is a very essential element of higher institutions, towards restorative justice as an alternative for resolving sexual harassment crimes in Islamic universities in Indonesia.
Design/methodology/approach – This quantitative analysis was conducted using a cross-sectional survey method with 941 active students from Islamic universities in South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia serving as the respondents. Data were collected through an online survey and analyzed using ANOVA (N=941) with Univariate One-Way Analysis of Variance in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software.
Findings – The results showed that respondents recognized sexual harassment as a grave crime, requiring a strong response, and acknowledged its occurrence within Islamic universities. However, it is challenging to accurately comprehend how universities handle these types of sensitive cases that comprise the interests of perpetrators, victims, and the university reputation. This challenge has led to a lack of awareness about the existence and progress of case resolution among respondents. The results also indicated that students did not support the implementation of restorative justice in sexual harassment cases in Islamic universities, regardless of their awareness concerning this measure as an alternative for resolving complex issues.
Originality/value – This study is crucial as the checkpoint to discover the best way to solve sexual harassment in Islamic campus without passing the criminal justice system.
Keywords: Crimes, Islamic university, Restorative justice, Sexual harassment, and Student’s perception.