A majority of people are against the reduction of jail terms for prisoners convicted in cases related to corruption, drugs and serious crimes, according to the results of a survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted via telephone interviews with 1,317 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country from Dec 13-15.
The respondents were asked whether jail terms handed down to convicts in corruption, drug and serious crime cases should be reduced.
For those convicted of corruption, 50.04% said they should not be entitled to the reduction; 26.27% said they should have served at least half of their jail terms before being entitled to the reduction; 22.02% said they should be entitled to the reduction as allowed by law; and 1.67% did not answer or were not interested.
For convicts in drug cases, 74.03% said they should not be entitled to the reduction; 12.76% said they should have served at least half of their jail terms before being entitled to the reduction; 12.53% said they should be entitled to the reduction as allowed by law; and 0.68% did not answer or were not interested.
For convicts in serious crimes such as murder, rape and rape-murder, 85.88% said they should not be entitled to the reduction; 7.14% said they should have served at least half of their jail terms before being entitled to the reduction; and 6.98% said they should be entitled to the reduction as allowed by law.
Asked who should be given the authority to decide the classification of convicts into levels which result in differing reduction of jail terms, 54.52% said the matter should be jointly considered by organisations in the judicial process such as the prosecution and courts; 21.79% said this should be decided by the Corrections Department of the Justice Ministry, as presently occurs; 14.43% said there should no longer be any classification of convicts; and 9.26% had no answer or were not interested.