Section 288: Murder
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดฆ่าผู้อื่น ต้องระวางโทษประหารชีวิต จำคุกตลอดชีวิต หรือจำคุกตั้งแต่สิบห้าปีถึงยี่สิบปี
English translation
Whoever murders another person shall be liable to death, to imprisonment for life, or to imprisonment from fifteen to twenty years.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 288 is the foundational homicide offence in the Title on Offences against Life, punishing the intentional killing of another person. Its elements are simply an act of killing and the intent to kill (which in Thai law includes both the desire to cause death and foreseeing death as a certain consequence). It provides three sentencing options: death, life imprisonment, or fifteen to twenty years. It is the base from which Section 289 builds the aggravated forms of murder carrying the mandatory death penalty, while Section 290 covers the lesser case of an assault that causes death without intent to kill, and Section 291 covers death caused by negligence. Distinguishing intent to kill from mere intent to injure is therefore the central line between Section 288 and Section 290.
Why this matters in practice
Exposure is at the top of the scale, from fifteen years to the death penalty, and the single most decisive issue in most cases is intent: whether the accused intended to kill (Section 288 or 289) or only to injure, with death an unintended result (Section 290). Related defences turn on self-defence, provocation, and the manner and instrument used, all of which bear on how the court reads intent. Given what is at stake, anyone facing a homicide allegation should obtain experienced representation immediately; the firm's overview of criminal law in Thailand gives useful background.
Cited in 2,205 Supreme Court decisions (1959 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 7400/2568 (2025)
- Decision 8082/2567 (2024)
- Decision 6190/2567 (2024)
- Decision 2101/2567 (2024)
- Decision 4231/2567 (2024)
- Decision 3129/2566 (2023)
- Decision 4753/2565 (2022)
- Decision 4479/2565 (2022)
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 80 1,189
- Section 78 1,012
- Section 91 917
- Section 83 875
- Section 289 573
- Section 371 552
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
What is the penalty for murder under Section 288?
The death penalty, imprisonment for life, or imprisonment from fifteen to twenty years, at the court's determination on the facts.
How is Section 288 different from Section 290?
Section 288 requires intent to kill, while Section 290 applies where the offender intended only to injure but the victim died, which carries a much lower penalty.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 288 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 288. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-288/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 288 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-288/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-288/"><p>Whoever murders another person shall be liable to death, to imprisonment for life, or to imprisonment from fifteen to twenty years.</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 288 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-288/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.