No system would be perfect as police and politicians will always be corrupt.
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No system would be perfect as police and politicians will always be corrupt.
"I have said before, please don't forget the Thai system gives you half of the sentence if you plead guilty."..same same as the UK and US although there isn't a specific term like half of the sentence but the pressure is always there to plead guilty if you can't afford good legal advice.
careful boygeenyus...you don't have to be guilty to fall foul of the law..just a momentary diversion of attention when driving and you could be facing manslaughter charges. That's when you will glad of a good lawyer and hopefully a good judge.
In USA if a judge comments on record upon sentencing that he is giving the defendant 20 years because he took the case to trial but would have given him 10 if he plead guilty, the sentence will be reversed in an appeal very quickly. A person can not be penalized for exercising his right to a trail.
The Reality is, if a case has over whelming evidence and the defendant takes the case to trail and looses, he does get a more years then if he had just plead open, most times. The judge just has to keep his mouth shut.
Plea negotiations or plea bargaining generally results in a lighter sentence than if a defendant takes a case to trial and looses, otherwise, why would the defense agree to the deal?
Having the best legal defense does not always work in the favor of the defendant if the defendant is very guilty. Just ask Martha.
In the Thai criminal system, I understand that there is no fixed rule about getting a break (half the sentence) if one pleads guilty; however, by historical practice, that is how it works most times and the judges openly say that from the bench.
In the US system, Trongpai is right that a sentence would be immediately reversed if there was any hint on the record that the defendant was penalized for exercising his/her constitutional rights (demanding a trial). But: (1) Given the growth of rather rigid sentencing guidelines in the last 20 years, the sentence is often the same for the same act even if it's pleaded down to the next lower offense (and, of course, prosecutors typically overcharge knowing that they'll plea the matter down to get the sentence they believe is appropriate) and (2) many misdemeanors (typically offenses calling for a maximum of 1 year incarceration or less) often receive the same sentence (perhaps a fine and/or probation for a first offense) by historical practice and guidelines regardless if the conviction is by plea or by trial.
What might be interesting to see would be a study on how long a person serves in Thailand or the US for the same drug offense. With the rather severe mandatory minimums in the US for any significant quantity of drugs - and with the practice of pardons of Thai prisoners who have served 10+ years, I'm wondering if the actual time served would be comparable in reality. Of course, how and where one serves the sentence is probably as (or more) important (I'd maybe take ten years in a US federal prison anyday compared to five years in any Thai prison).
A public defender, of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by kquill
Boygeenyus,Quote:
Originally Posted by boygeenyus
How much interst do you think they have out here with a person who has no money?? Yes, you can say its their job, but they don't do it, let's say, enthusiastically!
Quote:
Originally Posted by kquill
The difference from back home being...?
The system in the UK is much simpler. They either find you not guilty or you can say you were drunk or high on drugs and they let you off with it anyway.