The Royal Thai Police (RTP) is preparing to propose reducing the threshold for legal punishment exemption from 15 to 14 years old to the Justice Ministry, citing an increase in juvenile offences.
RTP spokesman Pol Lt Gen Achayon Kraithong stated on Thursday that the national police chief Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol had instructed the RTP to collaborate with relevant agencies to examine the ages of children and adolescents who have committed crimes in recent years.
This proposition follows two alarming incidents, one involving a 14-year-old boy who shot several people in a Bangkok shopping mall and the other concerning the brutal murder of a woman by a group of youths in Sa Kaeo province.
According to Pol Lt Gen Achayon, there has been a rise in crimes committed by youths aged 10 to 18 in recent years. Between 2016 and 2023, there were 11,866 recorded cases of juvenile crime. Of these, 1,645 were serious offences, 4,318 were violent crimes, and 5,903 were property crimes.
He noted that offenders’ ages have been trending younger, leading the RTP and affiliated agencies to propose adjusting the age range for legally punishable juveniles.
The suggested changes involve amending the Penal Code’s Section 74 by lowering the age range from 10-15 years old to 10-14 years old, along with stricter enforcement of Section 97 Paragraph 2 of the Juvenile and Family Court and Juvenile and Family Case Procedure Act BE 2553. This adjustment would enable the Central Juvenile and Family Court to transfer juvenile cases to regular courts if the young offenders in question display similar physical and mental conditions to those above 18 years of age.
The RTP intends to present this proposal to the Ministry of Justice and related organizations.
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