Nuttaya Chanyachailart. Factors affecting on discretion of judges to punishment in criminal cases . Master's Degree(Criminology and Criminal Justice). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2003.
Factors affecting on discretion of judges to punishment in criminal cases
Abstract:
The objectives of this survey research were to study the criteria and
discretion of judges regarding punishment in criminal cases as well as to delineate
related factors. Two-hundred and five judges in criminal courts in metropolitan
Bangkok were the sample.A questionnaire was the instrument for data collection.
Data was analysed through amount, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Chisquare.
The results of this research was found that the different legal experiences of
the judges as a personal factor had a statistically significant effected on discretion at
0.05 level, while the schedule of punishment or the so called “Yee-tok” also had a
statistically significant effect on the discretion of judges in criminal cases at 0.05
level.
The perspectives of considering matters by judges for punishment were in
order: degree of fatal crime conduct, criminal record, the damage to the victim, the
objective of correcting the offender, the schedule of punishment, extenuating
circumstances, circumstances in the area, and the supreme court’s decision.
Recommendations for this research were to set guidelines for criminal
punishment, reviving and defining legal professionals applying to be judges,
standardizing policies for schedule of punishment (Yee-tok), and research on
punishment or related issues. The researcher also encourages the enactment of
standard guidelines for the schedule of punishment (Yee-tok) practiced in courts
throughout the country for more equal treatment of those accused with similar
offences.