Social media in Thailand. The good the bad and the ugly.

[berybert]

It seems we are reading about rape, murder, drug taking/selling and vehicle deaths on a daily basics now-a-days, due to forums like this but also the likes of Face book etc.

More and more people are getting involved in things that never used to bother them because of social media. You would think this would be a good thing, and over all maybe it is. But it seems to me there is also an ugly side to it.

When someone gets raped or done for drug dealing, as well as finding out about the crime the Thai population in also finding out what the cost is to the criminal.

Sadly they are finding out crime doesnt often mean doing much jail time, and very often its a smack on the wrist and a 'dont do it again' warning.

If you were a bit un-normal and fancied a bit of 'how's your father', would you look at social media and think 'I can go do something very very bad to someone and not really get into much trouble'. If you were skint and wanted to rob someone would you be thinking 'I'll go mug some old girl, if I get caught not much will happen to me'.

That is often the impression the RTP give off when you do get to see how lightly many criminals are treated.

Murders are called suicide because it saves people (police) having to get off their backsides and do some work. Yes I know not every murder is suicide, but enough are to make you think its not normal.

So is social media creating monsters just by reporting more crime. I think it is.

[Gecko123]

If your sole source of information about crime in Thailand is the TV news forum, you can be forgiven for coming to this conclusion. There is only spotty follow-up on TV news forums about whether criminals are apprehended, and only in the most high profile cases, are penalties ever reported.

Every time crime cases are reported on the news forum, without fail, there is a chorus of "experts" who immediately predict that either the perpetrator will never be caught, or, if caught, will receive a slap on the wrist, or easily be able to bribe their way out of their legal problems. They are so vociferous and opinionated, often shouting down anyone who disagrees with them, that someone new to Thailand or unfamiliar with the police and the courts, could well conclude that these people are "in the know," and what they are saying must be true. It is my opinion, however, that 99% of the people on those forums have zero genuine insight into how effective Thailand's police department and criminal justice systems function, and are only regurgitating outdated anecdotal stories, i.e., circulating urban myths.

If you follow other news outlets - particularly Thai language news - you will quickly discover that many criminals are caught on a regular basis and often receive penalties in line with the West. I have been closely following crime news for several months now, and I have been very surprised to see how often - and how quickly - perpetrators are apprehended.

Examples:

Pattaya double murder of two women tourists in Pattaya: death penalty.

Koh Tao murders: death penalty.

Hua Hin Songkran gang assault of elderly British tourists: 2 years in prison.

Lad Prao motorcycle hijacking and murder: suspect arrested, facing murder charges.

Saraburi teacher attempted rape and murder: suspect arrested, has confessed, likely facing death penalty charges.

Gang murder of disabled man by group of youths, several of whom were children of police officers: in jail, bail denied, trial pending.

Bang Na public bathroom rape: suspect arrested, confessed, sentencing pending.

Body of foreign national found floating in Chao Praya river: suspects arrested.

Father who raped daughter after giving her yea baa laced soft drink: DNA evidence confirmed he was the perpetrator, arrested.

Drive-by husband and wife motorcycle riding purse-snatching team stole foreign woman's shoulder bag: arrested, sentencing pending.

Yala gang rape: all members of the gang arrested.

Edited July 9, 2016 by Gecko123

[kannot]

If your sole source of information about crime in Thailand is the TV news forum, you can be forgiven for coming to this conclusion. There is only spotty follow-up on TV news forums about whether criminals are apprehended, and only in the most high profile cases, are penalties ever reported.

Every time crime cases are reported on the news forum, without fail, there is a chorus of "experts" who immediately predict that either the perpetrator will never be caught, or, if caught, will receive a slap on the wrist, or easily be able to bribe their way out of their legal problems. They are so vociferous and opinionated, often shouting down anyone who disagrees with them, that someone new to Thailand or unfamiliar with the police and the courts, could well conclude that these people are "in the know," and what they are saying must be true. It is my opinion, however, that 99% of the people on those forums have zero genuine insight into how effective Thailand's police department and criminal justice systems function, and are only regurgitating outdated anecdotal stories, i.e., circulating urban myths.

If you follow other news outlets - particularly Thai language news - you will quickly discover that many criminals are caught on a regular basis and often receive penalties in line with the West. I have been closely following crime news for several months now, and I have been very surprised to see how often - and how quickly - perpetrators are apprehended.

Examples:

Pattaya double murder of two women tourists in Pattaya: death penalty.

Koh Tao murders: death penalty.

Hua Hin Songkran gang assault of elderly British tourists: 2 years in prison.

Lad Prao motorcycle hijacking and murder: suspect arrested, facing murder charges.

Saraburi teacher attempted rape and murder: suspect arrested, has confessed, likely facing death penalty charges.

Gang murder of disabled man by group of youths, several of whom were children of police officers: in jail, bail denied, trial pending.

Bang Na public bathroom rape: suspect arrested, confessed, sentencing pending.

Body of foreign national found floating in Chao Praya river: suspects arrested.

Father who raped daughter after giving her yea baa laced soft drink: DNA evidence confirmed he was the perpetrator, arrested.

Drive-by husband and wife motorcycle riding purse-snatching team stole foreign woman's shoulder bag: arrested, sentencing pending.

Yala gang rape: all members of the gang arrested.

it would be interesting to see how much of any sentences get served as if like the UK for " good behaviour (sic)" they get very early release.

Also interesting to see how many crimes go unreported or go nowhere when reported

Edited July 9, 2016 by kannot

[Aussie69]

IMHO the news industry paints a vastly unbalanced depressing view of the world because crime, depravity, crisis, rumour, celebrity is deemed way more interesting and (in our interest) newsworthy.

People read this news and regurgitate it in social media where it is further promoted, twisted and analyzed to death by Mr & Mrs concerned citizen.

Yes social media makes modern life seem worse; ignorance is bliss, but equally social media opens us to a world of wonder, sharing, education, discussion, etc.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Aussie69

[cyberfarang]

It`s because all forms of media love to sensationalize the news, it`s sells newspapers and adds to the viewing figures. And these days we can see all these events in glorious HD and living colour so it stands out more not forgetting that most people are armed with cameras on their cell phones that means journalists and reporters no longer need to be at the scene to capture the news, anyone can be their own reporter and upload the images within an instant, so we get to hear about more news then we did in the past.

As regards the sentences in the news handed out to law breakers, this has been going on as far back as I can remember and is nothing new. Only difference between present day and the past is that we now have the Internet so we get to hear about it sooner.

[Chicog]

Not much gets past 'outraged Thai netizens'.