ABSTRACT
Judge Suriwattanakul from Thailand states that as drug-related crime is widespread in the country, as a form of control, a Thai drug dealer could be sentenced to death. He says that justice by the rule of law should come before justice according to the law. Judge Suriwattanakul says that in practice many drug users carry more that 15 amphetamine tablets for convenience so they do not need to buy the drug as often. One problem in changing this is that this assumption came from decisions made in the Thai High Courts or Supreme Court and due to judicial precedent practices judges have to follow the decisions made in higher courts. In the UK Judge Mornington is deeply concerned by the cuts to legal aid as she too has witnessed a decline in the quality of advocacy, mainly by those representing defendants.
