Thailand Laws on sexual crime toughened
Sexual attacks against children below the age of 13, for example, will result in life in prison under the tougher law, while penalties will double for rapists who share recordings of the assault. The new law also recognises sexual crimes against men and corpses.
Promulgated in the Royal Gazette on Monday, the act to amend the Criminal Code’s rape section prescribes harsher punishments against sexual attackers and recognises new forms of the crime. Death penalty will be given in cases where the victim dies as a result of sexual violence.
Panadda Wongphudee, a beauty queen-turned-campaigner, has hailed the new law as being more comprehensive and in line with the modern context.
“For instance, it addresses the issue of audio and video recordings of sexual assaults,” she said, adding that under this law, police can no longer push victims to settle the matter out of court.
Jadet Chaowilai, director of the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation (WMP), said yesterday that police usually try to mediate when rape complaints are filed.
