Perception of crime and priority of justice in the southernmost provinces of Thailand

Abstract

This research aimed to study the perception of crime and priority of justice in Thailand’s southernmost provinces and to suggest solutions to the government agencies related to crime issues in those provinces. The researcher selected two criminological theories including Rational Choice Theory and Conflict Theory as the framework. This quantitative research collected questionnaires from 1,200 respondents and used descriptive statistics including numbers, percentage, average and standard deviation. The respondents were from Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, 33.33% each. 50% of them lived in the municipal areas and the other 50% lived in the area managed by the Sub-district Administration Organization. The research found that the representative samples felt that crime issues in their residential community was at a low level. Regarding crime types, it was found that the people thought that most crime involved drugs. The representative samples’ confidence in safety provided by the government agencies was at a moderate level. However, government agencies should set priority to the justice process. Firstly, to follow up offenders to be punished according to the law and increase legal penalties followed by correct litigation, fast and fair action, including prevention and reduction of the number of crime incidents. The result also showed that people’s feeling of safety when walking alone in the community was at a highest level. People in the area still thought that the residential community had a relatively low level of crime, different from the perspective of outsiders or views from mass media.