Majority of Thais still back death penalty

A panel speaker explained that the widespread support for the death penalty might have something to do with the Thai beliefs in revenge and retribution – which are both barbaric and undemocratic. 

Political scientist Sirote Klampaiboon said Thai people were trapped in the revenge mentality despite the fact that there was still no verifiable correlation between the death penalty and a reduction in crime. He added that many people were still clinging to the undemocratic belief that the state had the right to kill in order to maintain law and order. 

However, opponents of the law insist that capital punishment is both against the fundamental right to life and does not reduce the crime rate, he said. 

“The debate is not going anywhere,” said Sirote, who is a human-rights lecturer.

Pol Major Anek Ananthawan, also a human-rights lecturer at the Police Cadet Academy, said the struggle to end the death penalty in Thailand would be a long and difficult one because it depended on changing people’s hearts and minds. 

According to AI, Thailand is one of 57 nations to still have capital punishment. The director of AI’s Thailand chapter, Parinya Boonridrerthaikul, said two-thirds of the world’s nation states have already done away with the death penalty as it is deemed cruel and could lead to the accidental execution of an innocent person. 

“We cannot solve violence by using violence,” Parinya concluded.

According to AI, no state should be given the power to take anybody’s life; the death penalty is discriminatory and often used disproportionately against the poor, the mentally ill, racial and ethnic minorities or because of sexual orientation or religion; and it inflicts pain on the families of those on death row.