Section 23: Confinement in lieu of imprisonment
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดกระทำความผิดซึ่งมีโทษจำคุก และในคดีนั้นศาลจะลงโทษจำคุกไม่เกินสามเดือน ถ้าไม่ปรากฏว่าผู้นั้นได้รับโทษจำคุกมาก่อน หรือปรากฏว่าได้รับโทษจำคุกมาก่อน แต่เป็นโทษสำหรับความผิดที่ได้กระทำโดยประมาท หรือความผิดลหุโทษ ศาลจะพิพากษาให้ลงโทษกักขังไม่เกินสามเดือนแทนโทษจำคุกนั้นก็ได้
English translation
Whoever commits an offense punishable by imprisonment, and in that case the court would impose imprisonment not exceeding three months, if it does not appear that such person has previously been sentenced to imprisonment, or it appears that such person has previously been sentenced to imprisonment but only for an offense committed through negligence or a petty offense, the court may impose confinement not exceeding three months in lieu of that imprisonment.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 23 gives courts a milder alternative to short prison terms for first offenders and minor offenders. Three conditions define its reach: the offense must be one punishable by imprisonment, the term the court would actually impose must not exceed three months, and the offender must have no prior prison sentence except one for a negligence offense or a petty offense. Where these are met, the court may order confinement, a less severe punishment served outside prison, for up to three months in place of imprisonment. In practice the courts frequently apply it in minor traffic and assault matters, substituting confinement for the short imprisonment term they would otherwise impose.
Why this matters in practice
For a defendant facing a short prison term for a minor offense, this section is a realistic path to avoid actual imprisonment: confinement is served outside a prison and is far less disruptive. Eligibility hinges on your record, only prior prison sentences for negligence or petty offenses are ignored, so a clean or lightly blemished record helps. Raising a request for confinement, with mitigating personal circumstances, is worthwhile at sentencing. See our overview of criminal law in Thailand for context on sentencing options.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 178/2567 (2024)
Where the court imposes imprisonment of three months for a minor traffic offense, it may substitute confinement for the full three-month term under Section 23, illustrating the section's ceiling.
After convicting the defendant of a traffic offense and reducing the term to three months' imprisonment for a guilty plea, the court substituted confinement for the same three-month period under Section 23 and suspended the driving licence for six months. The case shows the section applied at its three-month ceiling.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 4292/2567 (2024)
Where the court of first instance substitutes confinement for imprisonment under section 23 and the appellate court affirms, a further appeal on the facts is barred and no judge of the court of first instance may give leave for one. Even so, if the record discloses a ground in law that makes the act no offence, the Supreme Court may take up all the evidence in the file and dismiss the charge.
The court of first instance convicted the defendant of assault under section 295, imposed one month's imprisonment and substituted one month's confinement under section 23, and the Court of Appeal Region 1 affirmed. The Supreme Court held the further appeal was on the facts and barred, and that the leave given below was of no effect. It nonetheless read the record, found that the injured person and another had together attacked the defendant's wife, and held that the defendant's single punch was defence of another, proportionate to the danger, and so no offence under section 68. It reversed and dismissed the charge, so neither the conviction nor the confinement order stands.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 151 Supreme Court decisions (1972 to 2024)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 4292/2567 (2024)
- Decision 178/2567 (2024)
- Decision 4884/2566 (2023)
- Decision 3307/2566 (2023)
- Decision 3561/2563 (2020)
- Decision 6724/2562 (2019)
- Decision 9999/2559 (2016)
- Decision 2821/2559 (2016)
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
- Section 78 114
- Section 91 58
- Section 29 54
- Section 30 53
- Section 83 47
- Section 90 46
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
When can confinement replace imprisonment?
Under Section 23, when the court would impose imprisonment of no more than three months and the offender has no disqualifying prior prison sentence, the court may impose confinement of up to three months instead.
Does a past sentence for a negligence offense disqualify me?
No. Prior imprisonment only for an offense committed through negligence, or for a petty offense, does not bar the court from imposing confinement in lieu of imprisonment under Section 23.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 23 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 23. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-23/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 23 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-23/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-23/"><p>Whoever commits an offense punishable by imprisonment, and in that case the court would impose imprisonment not exceeding three months, if it does not appear that such person has previously been sentenced to imprisonment, or it appears that such person has previously been sentenced to…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 23 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-23/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.