Abstract:
The study investigated the attitude of Samutsakhon’s criminal justice
personnel related to juvenile rape cases in the mediation system. 190 respondents
were surveyed by applying a quantitative approach using a questionnaire as the
instrument for data collection. Statistical applications were t-test and One-way
ANOVA.
It was found that most of the personnel were male and less than 30
years of age. Most were married with a bachelor’s degree and were yet to become
a Thai Bar Association Graduate. In descending order, most were interrogation
officers, lawyers, and associate judges. Their work experiences were 1-3 years or
more than 10 years; earning as income of 10,000-40,000 Baht a month on average.
Most acknowledged information of the mediation system.
Most personnel agreed with bringing juvenile rape case into the
mediation system but it was necessary to consider the actions and violence of the
offense, and relation between the offender and the victim; key was the intention of
the victim. This was for correction and prevention in the future in order to provide
an opportunity for juveniles to be rehabilitated and return to society as good
citizens. Also, it helped parents of both parties to understand each other, better
leading to peace and reconciliation. However, it was uncertain whether the
mediation system would encourage offenders to admit fault or be disadvantageous
to the victims.
It was found also that different backgrounds on gender, age, status,
education, graduation status from the in Thai Bar Association, occupation,
monthly income, and acknowledgement of the mediation system affected attitude
of bringing the juvenile rape case into the mediation system by statistical
significance of 0.05.
It is recommended that future research should use a qualitative
approach to gain clearer results by investigating the opinion of the criminal justice
personnel in stratified groups. In addition, research should be conducted on factors
affecting other criminal cases in the mediation system for improving and
developing better accountability of the mediation system and for further benefits
of the Thai criminal justice administration.