Guidelines for Improving Thai Criminal Justice Process at the Prosecution Stage

Abstract

This article aims to present the study on the guidelines to improve the justice system of Thailand for public prosecutors. The study applied the qualitative research method using documentation and interviews, which comprise 1) an in-depth interview of 5 current or former managerial public prosecutors in the Office of the Attorney General 2) surveys of public prosecutors who currently perform or used to perform an active role in criminal proceedings as well as the current or former executives in the relevant justice system agencies and academics, totaling 20 people.

The study shows that the administration of the criminal justice system in Thailand is different from that in foreign countries. Public prosecutors in foreign countries have investigative power and play a role in solving the backlog of court cases and prison overcrowding by applying Diversion. Thai public prosecutors, unfortunately, lack powers to investigate and to conduct Diversion resulting in overloaded cases in courts and overcrowding in prisons. The study concludes that the guideline for the improvement of the justice system in Thailand at the prosecutorial stage is to grant investigative power to the public prosecutors and to apply Diversion by exercising the Alternatives to Justice such as the deferred prosecution.  This article presents and proposes the guidelines for improving Thai criminal justice process at the prosecution stage with suggestions on possible management, administration, and research in the future.