Measures Against Prostitution
THE PROSTITUTION PREVENTION AND SUPPRESSION ACT B.E. 2539 (1996)
has been effective since December 21, 1996. The act has several important contents which the public should known as follows:
* penalty for a prostitute is very much reduced;
* a customer using the sexual service of a child under 18 of age will be punished with imprisonment;
* there are penalties for the manager controller, supervisor, owner of a prostitution place;
* anyone who procures or detains another person for prostitution will be severely punished, if the victim is a child not over 18 years of age the offender will be punished more severely, and if the child victim receives grievous bodily harm or the child is dead the offender will be punished with life imprisonment or with death penalty;
* a parent or guardian of a child not over 18 years of age will be punished with imprisonment and a fine and the custodianship may be revoked if the parent or guardian colludes with another person for sending his/her offspring or the child in his/her custodian to be a prostitute;
* if the perpetrator, aider or abettor in the offence of detention or confinement of another person for prostitution is an administrative official, police official, or official of primary shelter or a protection and vocational development place, such an official will be severely punished;
* the Act provides that there shall be one National Committee for Protection and Vocational Development and a Provincial Committee for Protection and Development for each province;
* the Act Stipulates that all prostitution not over 18 years of age shall receive protection and vocational development for a period not over 2 years;
* the private sector, a foundation, institution or association with teh objective in prevention and rectification of prostitution problems can file an application with the authority to establish a primary shelter or a protection and vocational development place.
PENALTY FOR THE OFFENDER
The Prostitution Prevention and Suppression Act B.E. 2539 aims at prevention and solving the problem of child prostitution . Therefore, the act provides penalties for those who are the contributing factors which force children into prostitution as follows:
for the customer who buys sex service from a child prostitute in a prostitution place
* if the child's age is between 15-18 years old, the penalty is 1-3 years imprisonment and a fine of 20,000-60,000 bath,
* if the child's age is not over 15 years old, the penalty is 2-6 years imprisonment and a fine of 40,000-12,000 bath,
For the procurer or trafficker who procures, the seduces of traffics another person for prostition
* if the victim is a child between 15-18 years of age, the penalty is 5-15 years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000-300,000 bath,
* if the victim is a child not over 15 years of age, the penalty is 10-22 years imprisonment and a fine of 200,000-400,000 bath,
* if uses deceitful means , threat, or violence, the penalty shall be increased by one-third,
for the manager, controller, pimp, or owner of a prostitution place
* the penalty is 3-15 years imprisonment and a fine of 60,000-30,000 bath,
* if there is a child prostitute between 15-18 years of age in that place, the penalty is 5-15 years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000-300,000 bath,
* if there is a child prostitute not over 15 years of age in that place, the penalty is 10-20 years imprisonment and a fine of 200,000-400,000 bath,
for the offender who detains or confincs another person for prostitution
* the penalty is 10-20 years imprisonment and a fine of 200,000-400,000 bath,
* if the victim receives grievous bodily harm, the penalty is life imprisonment,
* if the victim is dead, the penalty is capital punishment or life imprisonment,
* if the percetrator, after or abettor of this offence is an administrative official, police official, government official, or work of a primary shelter or a protection and vocational development place, the penalty is 15-20 years imprisonment and a fine of 300,000-400,000 bath,
( Department of Public Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Thailand )