Jail-term limits pass first vote
50-year maximum penalty for minorsMongkol Bangprapa
A bill which exempts minors from life imprisonment and capital punishment and sets a 50-year jail term as their maximum penalty passed its first reading in the Senate yesterday.
The bill, which passed by 104 to 13 votes, with 10 abstentions, also changes the execution method from shooting to lethal injection.
The bill amends the Criminal Code, which gives the same penalties to minors as it does adults.
Weerachai Klaithong, a prosecutor, said offenders aged between seven and 17 were in practice usually tried in the Juvenile Court, which in most cases gave them a second chance.
Since its inception in 1960, the court had never handed a death sentence to anyone under 18, Mr Weerachai said.
Several senators argued 50 years behind bars was too long for a minor. By the time he was a free man, he would be too old to start a new life.
Somkiat Onwimol, of Suphan Buri, said the average lifespan for a Thai was only 60-70 years.
``That is like killing a child. What will be left of his life when he comes out of prison?'' Mr Somkiat said.
He wanted to scrap capital punishment, make life imprisonment without pardon the maximum penalty for people older than 18, and reduce the maximum jail term for anyone under 18 from 50 years to 20 years.
Sen Chirmsak Pinthong also supported abolition of the death sentence. ``Killing by shooting or lethal injection is no different,'' he said.
Mr Chirmsak said more attention should be given to rehabilitating inmates.
Montri Sinthawichai, a senator and child rights activist, said minor offenders should not be locked up in prison as adults were but sent to rehabilitation centres which would prepare them to return to society as better people.
Prasit Pithoonkijja, of Nakhon Sawan, said the bill should also protect victims.
``We must think about the feelings of a parent whose child was raped and killed by someone under 18,'' he said.
Justice Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said capital punishment stayed but with lethal injection inmates would not die a violent death. He would study how to use lethal injection in a way that would not destroy internal organs which inmates might want to donate.
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