APPROPRIATE APPROACHES FOR PROPOSING A GENERAL ROYAL PARDON IN THE EVENT THAT THE DEFENDANT IS PERMITTED TO PERFORM SOCIAL SERVICE OR PUBLIC WORK INSTEAD OF FINES

Abstract

Abstract

          Current amnesty laws require defendants to perform social or public service work instead of fines. To receive a pardon, defendants must not violate any conditions or court orders.In addition, a pardon could be granted by only meeting mandatory conditions without performing services. This research article therefore studies the appropriateness of pardons in such cases with a purpose 1) To study concepts, theories about forgiveness under Thai law. 2) To study and compare the limitation of the defendant's right to pardon in the event where the defendant works to pay debts instead of fines according to Thai and foreign laws. 3) To study and analyze problems or effects caused by the definition of the word Social service workers or public service workers in lieu of fines according to Section 3 of the royal pardon during the year 2020 – 2022. 4) To suggest appropriate guidelines in order to propose a royal pardon in such cases by using qualitative research format including researching information in regard to amnesty in Thailand, England and Japan then analyzing and comparing those information with the issues and propose solutions.

The results showed that pardons in such cases are not appropriate. They limit the rights of the defendant in which they are inconsistent with the spirit of the law and may not be in accordance with the true wishes of the King affecting the defendant and related persons. The solutions are suggested as follows: 1) revising the definition of social service workers or public works in lieu of new fines in Section 3 by erasing the phase “…when the person has followed court order and has not violated any prescribed conditions” 2) Amending Section 5 (2) by adding the phase “…by releasing the person from the concerned fines which could be replaced by performing social or public service work”