Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking the question 'are you guilty until proven innocent in Thailand.' I thought of making this video after reading a recent comment on a prior video on our channel. Quoting directly: "The Thai legal system is very different from that in America. In Thailand you are automatically guilty until proven innocent." 

No you're not, that's just not true. Thailand's, your legal position, your posture with respect to the Thai Court System, with respect to the Thai Legal System is innocent until proven guilty. Now a lot of people mistake this for being, well they don't understand the system fundamentally is what it comes down to. So for example, I have done other videos on this channel where we have discussed the posture that one will be in with regard to a criminal investigation in Thailand. When police are undertaking an inquiry, for example you may not have a right to an Attorney per se so if they are fact-finding, you may have to deal with the police. Now if you don't speak fluent Thai, you may be entitled to an interpreter. Oftentimes we have Thai Attorneys who act as an interpreter so in a sense you can kind of kill two birds with one stone that way. But understand it is not like the United States insofar as you have an unfettered right to an Attorney with any interaction with the police because again, police are viewed as the primary fact finder in matters pertaining especially to criminal law and when they are doing an inquiry, they are out there finding facts, they are not necessarily accusing anyone of a crime but they are doing their fact-finding.

Once someone is accused, yeah you have a right to an Attorney but also bear in mind that if accused you still are innocent, they have to prove the count in a Thai criminal proceeding but understand, yeah it is a different system. Again police are the primary fact finder; it is also not an adversarial system which is a very different posture that you are in in a Thai Court than being in an adversarial system court. For example, Common Law tradition for example the United States, yeah again you are innocent until proven guilty there but it is a fight; it is an adversarial proceeding. It is an inquisitorial proceeding here in Thailand and that can be viewed very differently by Westerners because the Judge is not only looking to ascertain what the underlying facts are, oftentimes they are going to rely very heavily on the findings of the police and then they are going to want to make findings, not only findings of fact but then conclusions of law based upon those facts. So again, you are innocent until proven guilty in Thailand but bear in mind, Thailand has a very different system for adjudicating criminal culpability here in the Kingdom.