Thailand enacts law to prevent recidivism among sexual and violent offenders

Thailand will implement a law later this month that aims at preventing recidivism among prisoners put away for violent or sexual offences after their release from prison.

Yesterday, government spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek said in a Cabinet meeting that the Measures to Prevent Recidivism of Sexual and Violent Crimes Act (2022) will come into force on January 23.

The new act requires prison staff to closely monitor sexual and violent offenders. If prison committees have good reason to suspect recidivism, such prisoners will be monitored closely upon release and can be detained in “emergency detention” in extreme cases.

Last week, a man put away for violent offences stabbed a 14 year old girl to death on her way to school just three days after his release from prison. The new law aims to prevent such tragic cases.

The act outlines four measures to prevent recidivism from violent and sexual crimes…

1. The ministerial regulations will be enforced against prisoners who the court ruled have committed sexual, offences against life, bodily harm offences, or offences against liberty according to the Criminal Code…

• Sex offenders who committed rape, abuse of a child under 15 years old, taking a child aged between 15-18 to commit indecent acts, and taking others to commit indecent acts by means of deceit or extortion.
• Offenders who committed offences against life, such as murder or manslaughter.
• Offenders who committed bodily harm, such as harm to others causing death, physically harming others causing serious injury, or physical abuse resulting in grievous bodily harm.
• Offenders who committed crimes against liberty such as kidnapping for ransom.

2. Every prison is required to set up a committee which includes the prison commander and chairman. The committee may have no less than five members appointed by the prison commander.

The committee’s duty is to scrutinize information to create prison classification reports according to ideas proposed by prison officials.

The reports will detail measures to prevent recidivism appropriate to convicted prisons, methods, and a timeline for implementation of such measures.

3. Prisoners should be monitored for no more than two years before their release…

In the two years before release, prison officials should gather information for the preparation of prisoner classification reports and give their opinions to the committee before proposing measures to prevent recidivism for the committee’s consideration.

4. Implementation of surveillance/detention measures by probation officers…

If there is reasonable ground to believe that such a prisoner will re-offend and there are no measures that would prevent them from doing so, the probation officer shall present his concerns to the prosecutor for consideration. Within 15 days, the prosecutor may request the court to use detention or surveillance measures to prevent recidivism.

If there is reasonable ground to believe the prisoner will repeat the offence, and it is an emergency, e.g. if the prisoner has suspicious behaviour and is at risk of causing harm to another person by using weapons, then the probation officer shall present his concerns to the prosecutor for consideration who request the court to place the prison in emergency detention within 24 hours.