Thai Newspapers
One of the ways in which I am still (slowly) trying to improve my Thai language skills is by reading newspapers. Thailand has an amazing number of newspapers (including two national English language papers that I read when I want to really comprehend). But the Thai language papers are fascinating for a variety of reasons - one of which is their sensational coverage of crime. I've been particularly intrigued by one apsect of the Thai judicial proceedings - the crime reenactment. I'm not aware that this practice is used much in the States - one reason being that most people seem to plead innocent (and agreeing to act out the crime would look rather incriminating in the eyes of a judge or jury). It seems to me that people accused of crime here are more likely to plead guilty - and as part of that they show the investigators how they committed the crime.
This man is demonstrating how he disposed of a body.
This was a recent crime - the man shown here killed eight people who had been partying loudly and disturbing his sleep over a period of several months. The newspaper mentioned that staging this reenactment required the deployment of 300 police officers to keep angry relatives from attacking him.
In less grim news, our family is taking the next few days off and heading to the beach. The hot season seems to be upon us and we're going to get away while we can. Over the next two months we'll be receiving five new interns from Latin America and helping to host several groups of visitors.
-Tom