Translation:Criminal Code Amendment Act (No 16), 2546 BE

by National Assembly of Thailand

Table of contents

Act

Preamble

Section

1. Title
2. Commencement
3. Amendment to section 18: prohibition of infliction of death and life imprisonment
4. Amendment to section 19: method of execution
5. Person to implement this Act

Statement of grounds

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Seal of the Royal Command

Criminal Code Amendment
Act (No 16),
2546 BE

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Bhumibol Adulyadej R
Given on the 13th day of June 2546 BE
Being the 58th year of the present reign

His Majesty King Maha Bhumibol Adulyadej is pleased to give a Great Royal Command that it be announced as follows:

Whereas it is appropriate to amend the Criminal Code;

Therefore, by and with the advice and consent of the National Assembly, He is graciously pleased to enact the following Act:

Section1.This Act is called the Criminal Code Amendment Act (No 16), 2546 BE.

Section2.This Act shall enter into operation from the day following the date of its publication in the Royal Gazette onwards. However, section 4 shall enter into operation upon passage of the period of one hundred and twenty days from the day following the date of its publication in the Royal Gazette onwards.

Section3.The following text shall be inserted in the Criminal Code as paragraphs 2 and 3 of section 18:

“The punishments of death and imprisonment for life shall not apply to those who commit offences whilst being under eighteen years of age.

In the event that an offence committed by an offender whilst being under eighteen years of age is punishable with death or life imprisonment, the mentioned punishment shall be deemed to have changed to imprisonment of fifty years.”

Section4.The text of section 19 of the Criminal Code shall be repealed and replaced by the following text:

“Section19.Whoever has been sentenced to death shall be dealt with by means of lethal injection of drugs or poisons.

The criteria and procedure for the carrying out of death sentences shall be set out in the rules designated by the Ministry of Justice and published in the Royal Gazette.”

Section5.The Minister of Justice shall be in charge of the implementation of this Act.

Countersignature
Police Lieutenant Colonel Thaksin Shinawatra
Prime Minister

Note: The grounds for promulgation of this Act are as follows: At present, the provisions of the Criminal Code which relate to the carrying out of the punishments of death and life imprisonment upon those who have committed offences whilst being under eighteen years of age are still not consistent with paragraph 5 of article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, which designates that persons under eighteen years of age who have committed offences are not to be sentenced to death, and article 37 (a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, which designates that no child is to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and neither death nor life imprisonment without possibility of release is to be inflicted for offences committed by persons under eighteen years of age—both treaties having been acceded to by Thailand. In addition, the provisions of the Criminal Code which relate to the shooting to death as a method of execution are still unsuitable for and inconsistent with the present circumstances, because it is a brutal, cruel, and inhuman method which the State should not employ against offenders. It is appropriate to amend the Criminal Code in order that the application of the punishments of death and life imprisonment to those who have committed offences whilst being under eighteen years of age would be prohibited, and the punishment of death or life imprisonment would be deemed to have been changed to fifty-year imprisonment in the event that the offences committed by the described persons carry such a punishment, and the method of execution would be changed from shooting to death to lethal injection of poisons instead. It is therefore necessary to enact this Act.