The Corrections Department has opened the raw wound of capital punishment once again.
Authorities conducted the nation's first execution since 2009 on Monday. They executed convicted killer Theerasak Longji, 26, for the horrendous 2012 murder in Trang of a teenager, just for the purpose of stealing his phone and a meagre amount of cash. Theerasak was killed by lethal injection, the method used in seven cases since 2003.
Executions have become rare in Thailand in recent decades even though the number of crimes punishable by death has increased. Before Monday, it was last used in August 2009 when two drug traffickers were put to death on the same day at Bang Khwang prison. Bang Khwang is the nation's chief Death Row, but others exist in provincial prisons, for both men and women. There are currently about 450 condemned prisoners, according to the Corrections Department.
The use of the death penalty is widely debated in all countries, including the 58 that, like Thailand, sanction its use. Many countries have abolished the extreme penalty, including in our region in Cambodia and the Philippines. Only a few countries use it extensively -- the US, China and Iran being the top three for executions.
Thailand often is cited as being among countries that allow executions but rarely carry out the death penalty.
On the face of it, the execution of Theerasak was highly unusual in this day and age. His crime was certainly vicious. He stabbed his 17-year-old victim 24 times in a frenzy. All three court levels -- Criminal, Appeal and the Supreme Court -- affirmed his sentence.
Still, there must be questions why capital punishment was applied in his case.
Since July 2012, when Theerasak murdered his victim, there have been several crimes that could be considered equally barbarous or worse.
Consider the train workman who raped a passenger and tossed her from the moving train to her death horrified the country. Then there is the case of a serial killer of children who was judged insane instead of being sent to his death.
In many cases, even in the most unimaginably savage crimes, courts specify life sentences, where "life" actually means years behind bars and then release.
In general, the country appears content with the current state of executions. Having the death penalty on the books, but rarely used, rouses almost no noticeable protests. The last time the public voiced opposition was three years ago. Chief constitution writer Meechai Ruchupan wanted to add public corruption to the list of 35 crimes that conceivably could end in execution. Public outrage caused him to rethink that extreme proposal.
Nevertheless, a large number of Thais want to keep the death penalty as a deterrent. An academic survey in 2014, the most recent such national poll, indicated only 8% of Thais want to abolish the death penalty. Paradoxically, the survey by Mahidol University lecturer Srisombat Chokprajakchat found that only 41% were inclined to keep the option of executions on the books at all. Ms Srisombat said the rest of those she and her staff interviewed were ambivalent or had no opinion.
It is well known and generally conceded, even by pro-death penalty advocates, that the possibility of executions in no way serves to deter crime. So far as is known, worldwide, the presence of the death penalty has never stopped a murder, prevented drug trafficking or caused a rapist to think twice.
Few people outside his family will miss Theerasak. Whatever the family of the victim feels about Monday's execution, the murdered youth cannot return. The use of the death penalty is not just a legal issue but a deeply moral one. Its place in the legal codes and in the prisons deserves widespread public debate on whether to keep the right for the state to execute the very worst criminals.