Section 133 ter: Child identification of persons
Statutory text (Thai original)
ในกรณีที่พนักงานสอบสวนมีความจำเป็นต้องจัดให้ผู้เสียหายหรือพยานที่เป็นเด็กอายุไม่เกินสิบแปดปีชี้ตัวบุคคลใด
ให้พนักงานสอบสวนจัดให้มีการชี้ตัวบุคคลในสถานที่ที่เหมาะสมสำหรับเด็กและสามารถป้องกันมิให้บุคคลซึ่งจะถูกชี้ตัวนั้นเห็นตัวเด็ก
โดยให้มีนักจิตวิทยาหรือนักสังคมสงเคราะห์ บุคคลที่เด็กร้องขอ
และพนักงานอัยการร่วมอยู่ด้วยในการชี้ตัวบุคคลนั้น
เว้นแต่มีเหตุจำเป็นไม่อาจหาหรือรอบุคคลใดบุคคลหนึ่งได้และเด็กไม่ประสงค์จะให้มีหรือรอบุคคลดังกล่าวต่อไป
ทั้งนี้ ให้พนักงานสอบสวนบันทึกเหตุดังกล่าวไว้ในสำนวนการสอบสวนด้วยในกรณีการชี้ตัวผู้ต้องหาที่เป็นเด็กอายุไม่เกินสิบแปดปี
ให้พนักงานสอบสวนจัดให้มีการชี้ตัวในสถานที่ที่เหมาะสมสำหรับเด็กและสามารถป้องกันมิให้ผู้ต้องหาที่เป็นเด็กนั้นเห็นตัวบุคคลที่จะทำการชี้ตัว
English translation
Where the inquiry official finds it necessary to have an injured person or a witness who is a child not exceeding eighteen years of age identify any person, the inquiry official shall arrange the identification in a place suitable for children and in a manner that can prevent the person to be identified from seeing the child, with a psychologist or social worker, a person requested by the child, and a public prosecutor present during the identification, unless there is a necessity that any one of them cannot be found or waited for and the child does not wish to have or wait for that person any longer, in which case the inquiry official shall record such reason in the investigation file. In the case of identifying an accused who is a child not exceeding eighteen years of age, the inquiry official shall arrange the identification in a place suitable for children and in a manner that can prevent the child accused from seeing the person who is to be identified.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
This section complements the child-questioning regime in Section 133/2 by governing identification (line-up) procedures where a child under eighteen is the identifying victim or witness, or where the accused is a child. It requires a child-suitable place, an arrangement preventing the identified person from seeing the child, and the presence of a psychologist or social worker, a person the child requests, and a public prosecutor, with a narrow exception where one such person cannot be found or waited for and the child no longer wishes to wait, provided the reason is recorded. As a matter of general procedure it operates alongside the ordinary identification safeguard in Section 133, focusing specifically on protecting children during identification.
Why this matters in practice
If a child in your family is asked to identify a suspect, the law entitles the child to a protected setting where the suspect cannot see the child, with a psychologist or social worker and a prosecutor present. A failure to arrange the identification as the section requires can be raised as an unlawful-investigation point, and the Supreme Court has treated compliance with this section as a public-order question that can be raised even late in the case. Parents unsure how to protect a child asked to identify a suspect can book a consultation with a Thai lawyer.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 2834/2550 (2007)
Section 133 ter does not require the inquiry official to arrange an identification in every case; whether to arrange one is a matter for that official's discretion. Only if an identification is arranged must the safeguards the section lays down be followed. Whether the investigation complied with the section is a question of law touching public order, which the defendant may raise for the first time on further appeal.
The defendant argued for the first time on further appeal that the investigation was unlawful because the child victim had not been made to identify him. The Supreme Court accepted that he could raise the point, being one of public order, but rejected it: Section 133 ter does not compel an identification in every case, it leaves the matter to the inquiry official's discretion, and since no identification was arranged here there was nothing to which the section's requirements had to be applied. The investigation was lawful.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 3 Supreme Court decisions (2006 to 2010)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 9071/2553 (2010)
- Decision 2834/2550 (2007)
- Decision 647/2549 (2006)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
How must a child identify a suspect under Thai law?
Section 133 ตรี requires the identification to take place in a place suitable for children, arranged so the suspect cannot see the child, with a psychologist or social worker, a person the child requests, and a public prosecutor present.
Can a failure to follow the child identification rule be raised late in a case?
Yes. The Supreme Court has treated a failure to arrange child identification under Section 133 ตรี as a question of public order that can be raised even at the Supreme Court stage.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Criminal Procedure Code, s. 133 ter (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Criminal Procedure Code (Thailand), s. 133 ter. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-133-3/ (accessed 1 September 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.วิ.อ. มาตรา 133 ตรี -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-133-3/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-133-3/"><p>Where the inquiry official finds it necessary to have an injured person or a witness who is a child not exceeding eighteen years of age identify any person, the inquiry official shall arrange the identification in a place suitable for children and in a manner…</p><footer>Criminal Procedure Code, s. 133 ter (Thailand): <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-133-3/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.