GOOD COURT LEGAL AID: USING WISDOM TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE ACCUSED AND DEFENDANT IN ISAN JUDICIAL PROCESS

Abstract

This research has 3 objectives which are; study the history of court legal aid in providing assistance to the accused or defendant in Isan judicial process, study the current situation and problem of court legal aid in providing assistance to the accused or defendant in Isan judicial process and study the method of wisdom utilization by a court legal aid in providing assistance to the accused or defendant in Isan judicial process. The study utilized qualitative research. The sample group was chosen by purposive sampling and consisting of 93 knowledgeable persons, practitioners and general information providers. The tools used to collect data were participatory observation form, in depth interview and focus group discussion. The data was analyzed and presented as a descriptive analysis research.

Findings were as follows:

1. For the history of court legal aid in providing assistance to the accused or defendant in Isan judicial process, it was found that the “court legal aid” is the name that people call a person who works in the court area to assist the accused or defendant to fill a petition, write a statement, prepare supporting documents for a petition, help find security for bail and etc. in accordance with the judicial process and receives compensation in accordance to the satisfaction of the people who use the service. This profession has long existed alongside the court room from the past until present.
2. For the current situation and problem, it was found that the cases in each provincial court have greatly increased and the petition for temporary release mostly lacks security for the bail especially in drug case which is high risk and is difficult to find security and guarantor. There were alleged offenders who absconded after they were bailed. To track these people require both time and expense but the court legal aid still would take a chance and providing assistance to these alleged offenders and defendants.

          3. For the method of wisdom utilization by a good court legal aid in providing assistance to the accused or defendant in Isan judicial process, it was found that there are 3 methods as follows: 1) the court legal aid approaches the alleged offender or defendant and introduce himself to create confidence, 2) the  alleged offender or defendant approaches a court legal aid for assistance and 3) introduction of network system consisting of police, court official and lawyer who have long been working alongside each other, are inseparable and work in subsequent or namely as a “network”.