(i saw this, george, please edit and do the proper attribute.)

The ###### of Thai prisonsYoung traffic offenders in Thailand will be taken on a court-ordered guided tour of Thai morgues, autopsy rooms and prisons if judges and probation officials in Thailand can agree on new proposed radical measures aimed at discouraging young Thai drivers from road racing, a senior Thai judge said.

Probation and court-ordered community work alone have proved insufficient to deter Thai daredevil road racers and young drunken drivers from quitting their dangerous habits, said Adisak Sornthanarat, chief justice of the Northern Bangkok District Court House in Thailand.

The court and probation officials are discussing a new shock treatment with a guided tour as a possible deterrent, he said. Young Thai traffic offenders would be led into morgues, watch post-mortem operations on victims of road accidents and tour prisons in order to get first-hand experience on the negative and often lethal consequences of road racing and driving under influence on public roads, the Thai judge said.

He also warned that with the Children Protection Act coming into effect since March 30, parents and guardians would also be held responsible for the harmful acts of youngsters and children under their care. The parents of the young and repeating road-race and driving under influence offenders may be summoned to provide guarantee-money to be paid as fines for future violations, Adisak added.

Parents may also be considered by a court as encouraging their children in offences, which could result in being fined for up to 60,000 Baht (US$ 1,550) or jailed for 3 months, said the judge. There are as many as 500 cases of drunk driving by youngsters each month in Bangkok, which is a lot, he added.

At Ramkhamhaeng University, a "Roads Safe from Drunk Drivers" fair was opened by Justice Ministry permanent secretary Somchai Wongsawat. A number of anti-drunk-driving campaigners and Thai celebrities were among those taking part in the fair. They included actor Willie Macintosh, who became a presenter for the "Don't Drive Drunk" foundation in Thailand, after he himself had been ordered by a Thai court to carry out community service for a drunk-driving offence.

4 comments

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Thailand to take young traffic violators on morgue visits Young traffic offenders in Thailand will be taken on a court-ordered guided tour of morgues, prisons and autopsy rooms to discourage them from road racing Thailand Country Mahido University

(my comment)

perhaps shock tactics will deter some youthful offenders, for a while. we can only hope. as for mom? when i was a kid, a local judge held parents responsible, and jailed, for their childrens under-age drinking. only to find his son arrested for dealing drugs a year later.

sad,true

The U.S. had a program years ago (in the 80's I think) called "Scared Straight" where they took young, at-risk kids into prisons and had them talk to lifers about the reality of a violent lifestyle.

I don't know what ever happened to that program. Maybe some of our members will remember more about that program than I do and can post some comments. I think it must not have worked very well because I haven't heard of it or anything like it for many years. Perhaps it was considered "cruel and unusual punishment" for the kids involved.

mandl

What should be done is follow Singapore's example where even an expat kid can get jail time and canned for willful destruction to property. Loved it when all the bleeding-heart liberals in the states tried to come to that kid's defense after he sprayed down a bunch of Mercedes with paint, got canned and thrown in Changi Prison! HA! Bet a lot of teenagers stood up and took notice after that he couldn't weasel out of it.

boon mee

i was not against the caning. p'raps a switch or two on the butt will make a lot of notice among the kids. i'm old enough to remember being stupid, and young enough to care.

boon mee

i was not against the caning. p'raps a switch or two on the butt will make a lot of notice among the kids. i'm old enough to remember being stupid, and young enough to care.

That's right. As the twig is bent, so grows the tree. I did not mean to imply that you were against canning, thatguy, just citing an example right down the road so to speak in Singapore where crime is very low.

Urinating in the lifts of HDB Flats was pretty rampent when I was last there though...

Actually, I think the most important part of this legislation has to do with holding parents responsible for "encouraging their children" to behave illegally. Assuming it's enforced perhaps this will cut down on the number of 8 year olds driving motorbikes. Perhaps parents will think twice before buying their pre-teen a motorbike.

Then again, maybe not