Attitudes to the Death Penalty: Measuring Thai Perspective Through Mixed-Methods
Open AccessThailand’s de facto resumption of the death penalty in 2018 reignited long-standing national debates regarding whether the country should retain or abolish capital punishment. Most previous research and data suggest that a large majority of Thais support the use of the death penalty as a way to protect society from future dangerousness. This study analyzes contemporary public views about capital punishment using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitatively, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) polling data (N =1,251) are utilized to predict the influence of demographic characteristics on attitudes toward capital punishment. College education was the most significant predictor of state executions. Qualitatively, Twitter comments (N = 2,376) were subject to a content analysis to understand rationales for both support of and opposition to the death penalty. Results showed that the largest reason Thais support capital punishment is because they distrust the punishment system’s capacity to reduce criminality. This finding challenges early studies which identify deterrence as the primary reason Thai citizens want to retain the death penalty. It also implies the death penalty in Thailand is an example of “penal populism” by which state power is legitimated through harshness in the criminal justice system. Ironically, distrust in the punishment system’s capacity is also a notable reason why death penalty opponents reject this sanction. Notably, overall quantitative trends of public attitudes to capital punishment are similar using both the NIDA and Twitter data.
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