Globalization and Restorative Justice: in the Thai Criminal Justice System

Jutharat Ua-amnoey*

Fifth and finally, the reform process was sparked by the first criminal justice academic forum supported by the Thailand Research Fund (TRF). The topic was Crisis Justice System and Innovation in Administration and Treatment of Offenders on 18 September, 1998, in Bangkok. The organizer was Kittipong Kittayarak, This first social movement in the criminal justice regime is very renowned and has gained a great deal support in its bid to reform the criminal justice system. The ten other forums for developing the criminal justice system were successfully given throughout the whole two year period, but by January 2000 the discussion again came back to the topic of "Prison Overcrowding: Criminal Justice crisis which must be solved!"

This crisis situation is now at its most critical. Lucky however, the Cabinet's resolution of 10 July 2001 specified detailed guidelines on how to reduce case backlogs and overcrowding. "The so-called July 10 Resolution recommended several non-custodial and community-based treatment measures that will serve as a road map for future trends in the development of community-based and non-custodial treatment measures in Thailand." (Kittipong Kittayarak and Jutharat Ua-amnoey, 2003, p. 3-4).

This is the manner of social movements in criminal justice reform and the way in which the government took action to solve this crisis.

The Rising of "Restorative Justice" in Thai Society
In 1995, the change agents, the representative for the Thai criminal justice offices, was Kittipong Kittayarak, Director General of the Department of Probation, Ministry of Justice, Kittipong was the Thai representative who attended the Ninth UN Crime Congress and who adopted the idea of restorative justice from that forum.

After that, at the seminar on "Strategies on the Thai Criminal Justice Systems Reform " in October 2000, Kittipong translates "restorative justice" into Thai: "Karboonkarn Yuttitham Chung Samannachun. " Kittipong explained that he is concerned with the concept of restorative justice and with the desired outcome of this ideal, social harmony, so his translation of "restorative justice" incorporated the aim of this ideal (Kittipong Kittayarak, Interview, 1 March 2004). One year later, in 2001, Kittipong Kittayarak, joind the UN Expert Group Meeting on Restorative Justice in Canada and acted as Rapporteur. After he returned to Thailand, he launched the first Restorative Justice Seminar in Bangkok named "Restorative Justice: Alternative to Criminal Justice System" on 16 January 2002. That seminar served as the grand debut of "restorative justice" in Thai society as Her Royal Highness Princess Bhajarakittiyapa kindly attended, as did Pol. Lt. Col Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, the Prime Minister, a number of Justices, some high ranking officers from the criminal justice system, and another guests.

The Movement's Network Strategies for Restorative Justice in Thai Society
Thailand Legal Systems Development Project, the Thailand Research Funds (TRF), and the networks that Kittipong Kittayarak, the coordinator of the project, developed have been at the core of activating academic activities and stimulating the development of the criminal justice system from 1999 to the present. Theses groups have also been largely responsible for the promotion of the concept of restorative justice.

The main strategy in approaching, lobbying for and disseminating the idea of restorative justice to Thai scholars, officers, citizens was through a series of academic forums. So, after restorative justice had been formally introduced in 2002, the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women Under the Royal Patronage of H.R.H. Princess Soamsawali organized a series of forums including "Restorative Justice .for Domestic Violence and the
Possibility in Thai Society. " These forums allowed all participants to share their attitudes, exchange knowledge bases in criminal justice, find out may research questions, and build alternative conceptual frameworks that had never before been given a series of forums like this.

The pocketbook series of "Strategies on the Thai Criminal Justice System 's Reform, " volumes 1-4, is the second strategy of
this public awareness movement. The third volume of the series was
titled, "Restorative Justice: Alternative to Criminal Justice System " and was distributed all around the country to publicize the blossoming idea of social harmony in Thailand.