The criminal justice system and community-based treatment of offenders in Thailand

Responsibility for the administration of criminal law in Thailand is shared by several governmental organizations (including the police, the courts and the correctional department). The authors of this paper describe the functioning of these organizations, and in general terms the standard process of administering criminal justice when an offense has been committed. They also identify in broad terms the sentencing options available to a judge, from the death penalty to imprisonment to fines and loss of property. Their presentation of the criminal justice system in Thailand includes a portrait of its current state, its problems, and possible solutions to those problems. Against this background, the authors then look specifically at community-based treatment of offenders in Thailand. While informal justice alternatives have been widely used for a long time in Thailand, formal criminal justice community solutions have only appeared recently in the legal system. The authors examine the details of this formal community-based treatment of offenders in terms of parole, good time allowances, public work allowances, and probation.