Special Report:
Human rights organization urges government to abolish death penalty

BANGKOK: -- Thailand’s Union for Civil Liberty is calling for the abolition of capital punishment in the kingdom following a rise in the number of criminals condemned to death in the Deep South.

The union held a seminar on Monday at the foundation of the Islamic Center, where experts discussed the situation in the southern region and confirmed the global trend of moving away from the death penalty.

Human rights activist and union member Dr. Danthong Breen spoke extensively on the security of legal cases in the restive region where the emergency decree and the Internal Security Act have long been enforced. Unlike most parts of Thailand, where traditional criminal law is in effect, the invocation of the special marshal laws in the Deep South deeply affects the judicial process, including the absence of rights to obtain a lawyer during interrogation and apprehending suspects without warrants, said Dr. Danthong.

Handing down a death sentence generally requires the highest possible security, he said, adding that when certain rights of defendants in the South are taken away, the security of cases and the standard of proof can easily be compromised.

In addition, experts said during the last World Congress on Abolition of Death Penalty in Madrid that capital punishment in a region rife with insurgent activities may be counter-productive, as making martyrs out of terrorists can help recruit many others to the cause. Once executed, they become heroes in the minds of their followers.

The Department of Corrections’ death penalty statistics indicate that at least 112 people are awaiting death row in Thailand as of late last year. However, no execution has been carried out in Thailand during the recent years as inmates are appealing for royal pardon from His Majesty the King, which is considered the last step of their appeal process.

Strong political leadership is needed to end capital punishment in Thailand. Studies suggest the practice is not only inhumane and unnecessary but also does not serve as a deterrent to crime. No legal system is flawless, which means any miscarriage of justice could lead to the tragic loss of an innocent life, Dr. Danthong concluded.

In Asia, China, Vietnam, Singapore as well as Thailand are strong enforcers of the death penalty. According to reports, two thirds of the world have already abolished capital punishment in their countries.


-- NNT 2014-03-18

From my point of view, death penalty, is carried out, without any court judgements in the South.

I think the death sentence should be carried out more often. Execute anybody that cannot live peacefully live in a normal society.

In whIch countries do they consider their two thirds.

Almost every nation in the world has the death penalty for crimes where there was premeditated murder commited.

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Only uncivilised states/countries maintain the death penalty. End of.

With poor law enforcement, the dead penalty is often the only tool that might scare murderers.

Edited March 18, 201412 yr by Nickymaster

Wait on the Shinawatra family, Jatuporn and Chalerm; then abolish it!

With poor law enforcement, the dead penalty is often the only tool that might scare murderers.

Yeah as we can see it works pretty well in US....

Human rights organization urges government to abolish death penalty

What's the point, certain politicians or influential people, or kids of influential people get away with murder anyway, in the name of protecting and saving FACE...

Do you think we could get the country back on track before worrying about these type of side issues , the life of the Thai people is not an easy one for most and most would like to see a united Thailand , unfortunately the only one who can see this so far is General Prayuth, the so called leaders are wearing horse blinkers and have developed tunnel vision.

Yes please Thailand, join the civilized nations of planet Earth at least in this simple decision.

In whIch countries do they consider their two thirds.

Almost every nation in the world has the death penalty for crimes where there was premeditated murder commited.

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According to Amnesty International as of 2012, 97 countries have abolished the death sentence for all crimes.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/abolitionist-and-retentionist-countries

I believe Thailand will make a decision in 2015 on whether to re-commence carrying out the death penalty, the last execution was in 2009. A total of 685 prisoners have been condemned to death and out of this number 147 have completed all avenues of the appeal process for the execution to go ahead.

http://deathpenaltythailand.blogspot.com.au/

Edited March 18, 201412 yr by simple1

I think the death sentence should be carried out more often. Execute anybody that cannot live peacefully live in a normal society.

Please would you define "normal". Thank you

IMO if you take away somebody's else's life with no just cause you forfeit the right to your own.

There will always be homicide. Everywhere in the world people kill- because of anger, because of rage, because of greed, because of morbid jealousy, because of revenge. They will always do. You can not prevent that completely. But a society shouldn't kill. A state shouldn't take revenge. A judiciary system shouldn't be driven by and designed by hate or revenge or anger, but by resocialisation, prevention and satisfaction. Cambodia (!) has abolished death penalty many years ago!

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the death sentence, the absolute truth is, once enacted it cannot be reversed.

This raises a questions: Is the enactment just or even reliably just?

We don't need to ask anyone's opinion on that, the opinions are written all over ThaiVisa - Virtually nobody trusts the police, the lawyers or the courts to deliver justice - their failure to do so arising from incompetence, laziness, corruption, political influence, bias/vested interest or structural failings in the legal system.

You could not find better examples than 'Lerm and the former PM currently on the lam.

We have then people supporting the death sentence in Thailand in the full knowledge that the justice system is almost incapable of delivering justice - and when it does deliver guilty verdicts (justly or not) they are almost exclusively reserved for the poor and powerless.

So call for the death penalty for cold blooded killers, in the full knowledge that doing so will absolutely condemn people to death who where not given a fair investigation of trial.

Innocent poor and powerless people will be executed.

Guilty, wealthy, powerful people will not - Ask 'Lerm of if he's not available ask his son, he understands this very well.

If the death penalty is abolished does that mean that the thugs will understand that they no longer have the right to kill? Or will they just understand that they won't be executed if they do kill?

A civilized country should be able to protect those who cannot protect themselves (the poor and weak from ruthless predators) but is it necessary to protect the ruthless predators?

So if all governments abolish the death penalty will that solve the ultimate personal question we all will have to ask ourselves at some point in time - why me - why do I have to die?

We are all under a death penalty, if you are breathing you are under a threat of death, a percentage of us who woke up this morning won't live to go to sleep tonight (and it may be me).

Now that is the death penalty I would like to see abolished, but dispite many nonsense rumors to the contrary, there is no verifiable evidence that anyone has ever gotten out of this world alive. So what's the point?

Now, Thailand, teach America how to forgive.

Only uncivilised states/countries maintain the death penalty. End of.

True (but not the end of anything), if you define civilized as a country where murderers are free to kill their victims without fear of any death penalty, and only some vague possibility of life in prison which ebbs and flows with the political climate. Human rights activists first argue the death penalty is inhumane, and then on a different day in front of a different crowd argue with equal passion that ALL prisoners deserve a chance at rehabilitation (translation: progressive assessment programs leading to parole). They're so awfully silent however on the subject of victims killed by previously convicted & released murderers...

Life in prison here in Thailand, being a serial killer or rapist, might be not very different from death penalty, unless you're rich.

So, death penalty or not - it doesn't matter much.

But what does matter is that rich people are able to escape from justice.

I think the Government should abolish human rights organisations. i wonder how these people would feel if their own 3 year old daughter was raped ,beaten and murdered or if their whole family was massacred by some crazed serial killer. The death penalty should remain on the books and used if the crime warrants it. there have been many confessions to crimes when people are given the choice....tell the truth and serve life or if you are found guilty you will receive the death penalty

With poor law enforcement, the dead penalty is often the only tool that might scare murderers.

Yeah as we can see it works pretty well in US....

Quite clearly as most murders are not premeditated, though rather spur of the moment....The US is one of the most barbaric democracies on the planet.. IMO of course...

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I think the Government should abolish human rights organisations. i wonder how these people would feel if their own 3 year old daughter was raped ,beaten and murdered or if their whole family was massacred by some crazed serial killer. The death penalty should remain on the books and used if the crime warrants it. there have been many confessions to crimes when people are given the choice....tell the truth and serve life or if you are found guilty you will receive the death penalty

Life in the Big Tiger is a death penalty. Let them rot there for years on end until their time comes...

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With poor law enforcement, the dead penalty is often the only tool that might scare murderers.

I don't quite understand how you came to the absurd conclusion, that you'd rely on that same corrupt and inept law enforcement to prosecute a capital case fairly? Gimme a break.

Only uncivilised states/countries maintain the death penalty. End of.

Many uncivilized people behave as if begging for the death penalty for themselves....

I'll agree with the OP on one2 conditions. The guilty get a life sentence in solitary, and those guilty, when proof is beyond all doubt, get bread and water.

My point of view is keep the death penalty it keep the expenses low and get rid of killers it is a lot cheaper for the economy to get rid of these long time killers.

I think the Government should abolish human rights organisations. i wonder how these people would feel if their own 3 year old daughter was raped ,beaten and murdered or if their whole family was massacred by some crazed serial killer. The death penalty should remain on the books and used if the crime warrants it. there have been many confessions to crimes when people are given the choice....tell the truth and serve life or if you are found guilty you will receive the death penalty

If you're unfortunate enough to have that happen then you may well want the death penalty but you're not going to be in a very good state of mind are you. You also forget that for some people knowing they will have to spend all or most of their life in prison is worse than the death penalty. Even if they do come out after many years they aren't going to have a good time even then.

Then there's the problem of miscarriages of justice as well. You can never put them right but it's worse if you've executed someone.

Of course all this pressing for the abolition of the death penalty avoids the the issue of why a Buddhist nation has it in the first place.

In whIch countries do they consider their two thirds.

Almost every nation in the world has the death penalty for crimes where there was premeditated murder commited.

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According to Amnesty International as of 2012, 97 countries have abolished the death sentence for all crimes.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/abolitionist-and-retentionist-countries

I believe Thailand will make a decision in 2015 on whether to re-commence carrying out the death penalty, the last execution was in 2009. A total of 685 prisoners have been condemned to death and out of this number 147 have completed all avenues of the appeal process for the execution to go ahead.

http://deathpenaltythailand.blogspot.com.au/

Yes I think it's based on the number of countries rather than population and it includes those who haven't used it for over 10 years.