Although Thailand's criminal law system may appear incomprehensive or even arbitrary from an outsider's point of view, there is actually clear organization and procedure to the way things are handled by both the police and the Attorney General. Foreign nationals navigating the Thailand criminal law system should be aware of some keynote differences between the Thailand criminal law system and criminal systems of Western common law jurisdictions:
(1) It is possible in Thailand to file criminal charges privately. This means unlike common law countries, cases do not necessarily have to be referred to the public prosecutor (Attorney General in Thailand) but may be filed by aggrieved individuals directly.
(2) There is no jury system in Thailand. Criminal cases are decided by judges only.
(3) The police are often overburdened in Thailand. Accordingly aggrieved individuals often choose to retain a lawyer to prepare charges to be filed with the police.
(4) There are Royal Pardons issued periodically in Thailand.
(5) The Constitution of Thailand is not as strong as constitutions in various western law countries such as the USA. There have been dozens of constitutions in Thailand. Constitutional protections are not as certain nor as reliable as in Western common law countries such as the United States.
(6) The body of common law case law that you can find in western law countries does not exist to the same extent in Thailand. Although there are Supreme Court case decisions that are important for the development of the law of Thailand, they do not have the same weight as in common law countries.
(7) There is significant interest and activity in various international treaties and procedures such as prisoner exchange programs and extradition. This is due to the fact that Thailand has a large transient foreign population that often requires utilization of these extraordinary measures.
The basic elements of criminal defense procedure in Thailand and western common law jurisdictions are similar. However the procedures provided by the court vary. It is important to have an expert in criminal law to assist you with your case. Our firm assists in most criminal cases both with preparing with the prosecution of those offenses and the defense of individuals accused of those defenses. |
