Section 16: Revoking or suspending a measure of safety
Statutory text (Thai original)
เมื่อศาลได้พิพากษาให้ใช้บังคับวิธีการเพื่อความปลอดภัยแก่ผู้ใดแล้ว ถ้าภายหลังความปรากฏแก่ศาลตามคำเสนอของผู้นั้นเอง ผู้แทนโดยชอบธรรมของผู้นั้น ผู้อนุบาลของผู้นั้นหรือพนักงานอัยการว่า พฤติการณ์เกี่ยวกับการใช้บังคับนั้นได้เปลี่ยนแปลงไปจากเดิม ศาลจะสั่งเพิกถอนหรืองดการใช้บังคับวิธีการเพื่อความปลอดภัยแก่ผู้นั้นไว้ชั่วคราวตามที่เห็นสมควรก็ได้
English translation
When the court has given judgment applying a measure of safety to any person, if it later appears to the court, on the submission of that person, of that person's legal representative, of that person's curator, or of the public prosecutor, that the circumstances relating to the application of the measure have changed from what they were, the court may order the revocation of the measure of safety, or may order its application to be temporarily suspended, as the court thinks fit.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 16 is a general-part provision in the Book on the Application of the Penal Code. Measures of safety (for example, prohibition from a locality, or committal for treatment) are preventive orders distinct from punishments listed in Section 18. This section makes such orders reviewable: because they respond to a person's continuing dangerousness rather than to a fixed penalty, the court retains authority to revoke or suspend them once the underlying circumstances change. It complements the provisions that authorize measures of safety in the first place by ensuring they do not persist beyond their preventive purpose.
Why this matters in practice
For a defendant subject to a measure of safety, Section 16 is the route to ask the court to lift or pause it once the risk it addressed has changed, for example after successful treatment or a change in living situation. Because this is discretionary and fact-driven, supporting evidence of the changed circumstances matters. If you or a family member are under such an order, online consultation with a Thai lawyer can help frame a well-documented request.
Cited in 5 Supreme Court decisions (1958 to 2024)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 5659/2567 (2024)
- Decision 9041/2543 (2000)
- Decision 421/2521 (1978)
- Decision 4768/2545 (2002)
- Decision 54/2501 (1958)
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.
Most often cited alongside
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
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
Can a measure of safety be cancelled later?
Yes. Under Section 16, the court may revoke or suspend a measure of safety if the circumstances that justified it later change.
Is a measure of safety the same as a punishment?
No. Measures of safety are preventive orders separate from the punishments listed in Section 18, and they can be reviewed and lifted under Section 16.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 16 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 16. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-16/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 16 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-16/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-16/"><p>When the court has given judgment applying a measure of safety to any person, if it later appears to the court, on the submission of that person, of that person's legal representative, of that person's curator, or of the public prosecutor, that the circumstances relating…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 16 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-16/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.