Laying corner stone of juvenile court in CM

January 7, 1969. Moerman followed the judges to the stone laying ceremony for the foundation and the beginning of the construction of the Juvenile Court in Chiang Mai province. He had detailed procedures and had drawn a diagram showing the position of various offerings in detail.

Bail

March 12 – 18, 1969. Moerman collected information regarding the steps involved with granting bail for the accused. Issues of interest were noted such as 1) the police, prosecutors and judges all have the power to decide over setting bail for the accused. However, it depends on the order of the steps and the responsibility 2) There were many factors affecting the decision to grant bail for the accused, such as the importance of the case, health of the accused, educational level of the accused and the tendency of suspect to intimidate witnesses or flee bail. 3) The court usually allowed the accused bail because under Thai law, before the decision of the court is pronounced the accused is still considered innocent. However, in cases concerning communism or delinquency, the court-martial would be responsible for the trial. 4) It is at the discretion of the court to set a limit on bail for the accused.

Sentencing

June 4 and 10, 1969. Khanet and Suthon gave more information to Moerman. If a judge pronounced the sentence for which the accused had been jailed, the court must subtract the time in which suspects had been detained during the police investigation and also during the trial from the sentence. However, in some cases the judges forget to subtract this time period.

Legal procedures

May 23, 1969. Moerman spoke with the young prosecutors and experienced lawyers. Topics covered included 1) the appeal shall be entered when sentence given to the defendant by the Court of First Instance was quite severe. The appeal aims to request a reduction of the penalties. On the other hand, if the defendant's sentence from the Court of First Instance was not severe, it was quite rare to apply for a second appeal. 2) In 80% of the cases which occurred in Chiang Mai province, the accused confessed. 3) The people from the North most often confessed to the accusation. In reality, though, they had not committed the crimes. They confessed because they did not want to lose time and money involved in litigation. This was in contrast to people in Bangkok or in the South, where they were willing to sell land or to borrow money to be used for litigation purposes.

Children's courts

March 17, 1969. Moerman talked to the clerk of the district court. Children under the age of 15 years who were accused would be sent to a juvenile court hearing, whereas those aged 15 years and over would be sent to the general court for an inquest. But in both cases, the court would send the defendants to the House of Detention for Children and Youth (for those aged 15-18 years), where they would be taken care of, and participate in vocational training. It was hoped that they would cause less problems when they were released. In a hearing for children and youth, the court needed to be more compromising, and not be as strict as general trials.