Source: (2004) Corrections Today. 66(7): 86-91.
The rise of restorative justice in the Thai criminal justice system has been a relatively recent phenomenon. The authors begin with an examination of how Thailand came to view restorative justice practices as acceptable within their arguably punitive justice system that has traditionally not allowed space for the consideration of the victim or the community. There are examples of restorative justice practices that have taken place in traditional Thai villages, but during the colonization period the Thai criminal justice system shifted away from an Eastern philosophy toward the Western system of “legal positivism.” At the dawn of the 21st century, Thailand’s crime and correctional facility problems had reached such epidemic proportions that in 2002, after being convinced of the promise of restorative justice, the director general of the Department of Probation launched the first restorative justice seminar in Thailand. In 2004, the First National Master Plan of Criminal Justice, which incorporates restorative justice programs, was accepted by the prime minister’s Cabinet. The rise of restorative justice in Thailand provides a good illustration for any country seeking to add restorative dimensions to its criminal justice system. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.
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