The Period of Safety

Abstract

The period of safety is a specific duration of imprisonment during which the prisoners must certainly be detained without any benefits that would result in early release, such as parole, sentence reduction, or permission to leave prison. In Thailand, the period of safety is prescribed by the Correction Act and is applied to all prisoners. However, this fixed-term period may lead to inappropriate imprisonment of prisoners.

           This article aims to examine whether the period of safety conforms to the general principles of criminal law and to suggest the appropriate periods of safety for Thai criminal law. The following suggestions are proposed: 1) In cases where the offender is convicted with the death penalty, life imprisonment, or sexual or violent offences, the court should impose a compulsory period of safety in the judgment. 2) In cases where the offender is convicted of more than 5 years of imprisonment for any offence, the court should have the discretion to impose a period of safety or not. 3) During the conviction and the serving of the sentence, the court should have the authority to cancel or modify a period of safety to individualize the penalty for each offender.