FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Court seeks rewards for people who gives tips on bail jumpers

Court seeks rewards for people who gives tips on bail jumpers

THE COURT of Justice has presented several proposed bills designed to strengthen law enforcement, including the use of electronic monitoring (EM), and rewarding people who tip-off officials about the whereabouts of bail-jumpers.

Statistics show that some 27,000 mostly wealthy defendants have jumped bail.
The office proposed the use of EM for defendants who get released on bail so that poor defendants can get bail – a move designed to help bridge inequality in society.
The proposals will be tested as a pilot project by 12 courts after October and also be adopted for human-trafficking cases.
Channarong Pranijit, chief justice of the Court of Appeals, said the proposed legislation to reward people who tip-off officials about the whereabouts of bail-jumpers was designed to close two loopholes in the current law – the possibility of cases not being tried, and defendants fleeing while on trial.
He said the law had been amended so that fleeing defendants would not benefit from the expiry of the statute of limitations in cases. The court was also empowered to conduct trials in absentia and punish defendants who failed to stand trial and hear the court verdict. 
He said if defendants wanted to appeal a court ruling, they must appeal in person and not through their lawyers. 
Thailand did not have a court marshal to track down defendants who fled trials so what was needed was public participation in the form of tip-offs.
Channarong said the rewards would be taken from fines in criminal cases and the office would consult the Finance Ministry about the amounts paid.
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