Miscarriages of Justice in Thailand

Abstract

This article reflects the situation of miscarriages in the Thai justice system, antecedents of scapegoat, impact on the scapegoat, human rights, reviving the scapegoat cases, compensation for scapegoats, and to provide policy recommendation for policy makers. The author found that the problem of “scapegoats” in the Thai justice system has been deeply rooted in Thai society for a long time. The antecedents of this problem are associated with the police, the prosecutors, and the courts. This problem has a severe impact on the mental, physical, economic, and social conditions of the “scapegoats”. Although the law provides basic principles for protecting the rights of the accused but in practice there are still problems causing the accused or “scapegoats” to not be treated and protected by the government with equality, fairly, accurately, and speed in accordance with the established principles. Even though the Resurrect Criminal Case for Reconsideration Act B.E. 2526 allows the “scapegoats” to request for a resurrect but the scapegoats must confront several practical problems. In addition, the compensation provided by the government in accordance with the law is quite small. Therefore, government agencies should turn their attention to this problem urgently and the people who are involved in driving the policy, should pay more attention to this problem and put this as an urgent agenda for reform of the Thai justice system.