Section 57: Breach of probation conditions
Statutory text (Thai original)
เมื่อความปรากฏแก่ศาลเอง หรือความปรากฏตามคำแถลงของพนักงานอัยการหรือเจ้าพนักงานว่า ผู้กระทำความผิดไม่ปฏิบัติตามเงื่อนไขดังที่ศาลกำหนดตามมาตรา ๕๖ ศาลอาจตักเตือนผู้กระทำความผิด หรือจะกำหนดการลงโทษที่ยังไม่ได้กำหนดหรือลงโทษซึ่งรอไว้นั้นก็ได้
English translation
When the offender fails to comply with the conditions referred to in Section 56, the court may admonish the offender, or may determine the punishment in the case where the court has not yet determined the punishment, or impose the punishment in the case where the court has already determined the punishment but suspended its imposition.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 57 governs what happens when an offender granted suspension under Section 56 breaches the conduct conditions. The court has a graduated set of options rather than an automatic penalty: it may simply admonish the offender; where it had only suspended the determination of punishment, it may now determine the punishment; and where it had fixed the punishment but suspended its imposition, it may now impose that punishment. The provision mirrors the two suspension routes in Section 56 and makes the suspended sentence conditional on compliance. Committing a further offense of the same character is a common trigger for the court to revoke suspension and impose the penalty.
Why this matters in practice
A suspended sentence is not the end of the matter: breaking the conditions, and especially committing a like offense during the supervision period, can bring the suspended imprisonment into effect. The court is not obliged to jail on a first slip, since admonition is an option, but a serious or repeated breach usually leads to imposition of the penalty. Anyone under supervision should keep evidence of reporting and compliance, and get advice quickly if accused of a breach; a Thai lawyer can help respond before the court acts.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 2759/2563 (2020)
Where an offender fails to comply with the conditions of a suspended punishment under Section 56, Section 57 governs the court's response, including returning the file so the court may act on the breach.
The court set conditions on a suspended determination of punishment and directed that, if the defendant failed to comply, the probation officer report and the file be returned so the court could proceed under Section 57.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 3519/2555 (2012)
Under Sections 56 and 57, where an offender breaches probation conditions by committing a further like offense, the court may revoke the suspension and impose the punishment.
A defendant on a suspended determination of punishment committed a further snatching offense, of the same character as the earlier gang-robbery, breaching his conditions. The court revoked the suspension and imposed imprisonment under Sections 56 and 57.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 13 Supreme Court decisions (1960 to 2020)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 3519/2555 (2012)
- Decision 8976/2547 (2004)
- Decision 1581/2540 (1997)
- Decision 145/2540 (1997)
- Decision 4328/2556 (2013)
- Decision 4359/2551 (2008)
- Decision 8299/2544 (2001)
- Decision 5072/2542 (1999)
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 11
- Section 56 7
- Section 91 6
- Section 83 5
- Section 58 4
- Section 29 4
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 happens if you breach probation conditions in Thailand?
Under Section 57 the court may admonish you, determine the punishment if it was not yet fixed, or impose the punishment if it was fixed but suspended.
Does a breach automatically send you to prison?
No. Admonition is one option under Section 57, so a first or minor breach may not lead to imprisonment; but a serious or repeated breach, such as a new similar offense, often does.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 57 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 57. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-57/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 57 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-57/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-57/"><p>When the offender fails to comply with the conditions referred to in Section 56, the court may admonish the offender, or may determine the punishment in the case where the court has not yet determined the punishment, or impose the punishment in the case where…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 57 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-57/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.