Section 19: Execution by lethal injection
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดต้องโทษประหารชีวิต ให้ดำเนินการด้วยวิธีฉีดยาหรือสารพิษให้ตาย หลักเกณฑ์และวิธีการประหารชีวิต ให้เป็นไปตามระเบียบที่กระทรวงยุติธรรมกำหนด โดยประกาศในราชกิจจานุเบกษา
English translation
Whoever is sentenced to death shall be executed by injection of a drug or a toxic substance causing death. The rules and method of execution shall be in accordance with the regulations prescribed by the Ministry of Justice and published in the Government Gazette.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 19 governs the mode of executing the death penalty listed in Section 18(1). It reflects the reform that replaced execution by shooting with lethal injection. The section is purely a method provision: it does not define who may be sentenced to death, which is determined by the offense-creating provisions and by limits such as the juvenile bar in Section 18. The operative detail (protocol, personnel, sequence) is delegated to Ministry of Justice regulations published in the Government Gazette, keeping the statutory text stable while allowing procedure to be updated administratively.
Why this matters in practice
For a defendant facing a capital charge, the practical fight is at the liability and sentencing stage, not the method stage: whether the death penalty applies at all turns on the offense charged, aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the juvenile bar, and possible commutation. Because the stakes are absolute, capital cases demand experienced counsel from the outset. If you or a relative face a charge that can carry the death penalty, seek qualified representation early, for example through booking a consultation.
Cited in 3 Supreme Court decisions (1964 to 1994)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 102/2507 (1964)
- Decision 505/2537 (1994)
- Decision 797/2525 (1982)
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 is the death penalty carried out in Thailand?
Under Section 19, a death sentence is carried out by injection of a drug or toxic substance, following rules prescribed by the Ministry of Justice.
Does Section 19 decide who receives the death penalty?
No. Section 19 only sets the method of execution. Whether the death penalty applies depends on the offense charged and on limits such as the bar on executing offenders who were under eighteen.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 19 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 19. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-19/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 19 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-19/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-19/"><p>Whoever is sentenced to death shall be executed by injection of a drug or a toxic substance causing death. The rules and method of execution shall be in accordance with the regulations prescribed by the Ministry of Justice and published in the Government Gazette.</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 19 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-19/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.