Crime in Thailand
The United States and Thailand actively cooperate on extradition matters, particularly in cases involving cybercrime, drug trafficking, and financial offenses.
However, extradition is not carried out if the crime is considered political in nature or if the requested individual faces the death penalty without assurances of its commutation to a lesser sentence.
[8] These figures have been contested by the police and by Amorn Wanichwiwatana, a criminologist at Chulalongkorn University, who said he was not aware of any significant uptick in crime since the military came to power.
[10] Much of Thailand's crime is in urban areas where tourists congregate as they are easy targets, as well as where rampant prostitution and human trafficking feeds their vices.
[12] The drugs involved range from the traditional, kratom,[13] to ya ba, opium from Myanmar, and local herbal medicines.
[14] Methamphetamine is so widely abused that animals, such as gibbons, slow lorises,[15][16] and elephants "are force-fed stimulants to make them work longer hours, sedated to allow petting and entertain tourists.
Among other changes, sexual attacks on children younger than 13 will carry a sentence of life in prison, while penalties will double for rapists who record and share media of their crime.
"[42] The Thai government on 15 June 2014 caved to international pressure and explained its intention to rescind its previous ILO vote.
[43] In 2017, a case against Charoen Pokphand was brought to trial in the Northern District of California, ultimately leading to a dismissal with prejudice.
The government operated specialized anti-trafficking divisions within the Bangkok Criminal Court, office of the attorney general (OAG), and the Royal Thai Police (RTP).
The OAG required all prosecutors to expedite the submission of trafficking cases to the Courts of Justice.Violence against women and children has been rising in Thailand.
In 2016, the number of distressed women and children seeking assistance from the centre was 20,018, according to the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB).
A 2014 study by the Thailand Institute of Justice identified 22 separate gangs of foreigners involved in identity fraud, petty theft, and burglary.
Thailand's economic reliance on tourism[52] creates cover, crowds, and undocumented vice income, enabling foreign criminals to enter and remain in the country overstaying tourist visas.
[51] "Thailand has traditionally been one of the top source countries for extradition of criminals to the U.S.," said a March 2009 cable from the American Embassy in Bangkok obtained by WikiLeaks.
[53] "There are a number of minor reasons and one very major one why the jet-setting underground would find Thailand irresistible," according to Thailand-based British author Mr. John Burdett.
[54] Small Arms Survey estimates that the total number of guns, both licit and illicit, held by Thai civilians in 2017 is 10,300,000,[55] equating to 15.1 firearms per 100 inhabitants.
[56] Comparable figures for the other ASEAN nations are: Cambodia, 4.5 per 100 inhabitants; Philippines, 3.6; Laos, 3.0; Myanmar, 1.6; Vietnam, 1.6; Brunei, 1.4; Malaysia, 0.7; Singapore, 0.3; and Indonesia, zero.
[57] Ownership of firearms is particularly high in the south Thailand provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat that have witnessed significant insurgency and rebellion since 2004.
[58] Obtaining a permit to own a weapon legally in Thailand involves extensive vetting, including an interview by an Interior Ministry investigator, but a thriving black market exists to circumvent the law.
[63] Thailand has woefully inadequate prison infrastructure, as well as a lack of political will to deal with the exploding crime problem.
[79] There is widespread sexual assault of male novices in temples, and of mae chi (Buddhist nuns) and lay women.
[80] There are at least seven cases of reported murders of the foreigners on the southern island of Koh Tao in between the years of 2014-2017 [81] with many doubts about the police investigation which was widely criticised and marked as "Incompetent at best" by the international legal and DNA forensics experts.
[87] Issues with taxi drivers include their alleged drug use and abuse at the hands of Chinese organized crime network which often charge them high fee to operate in the city.
[88] Musicians at a Thailand bar stabbed an American businessman to death in front of his son, there to celebrate his birthday with his family.
[94] A Thai rescuer is facing threats after he exposed to the news agencies that a hospital in Bangkok refused to treat a foreigner who later died because of the delay in treatment.
