Legal Measures for Protecting Mentally Disordered Offenders During the Criminal Investigation: A Case of Section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Code

Abstract

The competency to stand trial, specifically during the investigation, under Section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Code forms the foundation for other rights for protecting rights of mentally disordered offenders during criminal proceedings. Mentally disordered offenders are considered vulnerable since they have disadvantages in terms of mental, emotional, and cognitive abilities impairment, which could affect the understanding of rights. Therefore, assessing competence to stand trial during the investigation is crucial to prevent the violation of rights and to ensure that mentally disordered offenders can fully exercise their rights. But from the study, it was found that the protection of the rights of mentally disordered offenders faces three main challenges: first, the issue of identifying offenders who may have mental disorders; second, the lack of provision to allow support persons during the investigation to protect rights of such offenders; and third, the absence of clear criteria for assessing competence to stand trial during the investigations. Therefore, this research article aims to propose improvements to provide protective measures for mentally disordered offenders during criminal investigation by analyzing the current measures in Thailand, identifying the problems, and comparing them with protective measures in other jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom (England and Wales), Australia (Queensland), the United States (California), and Japan.