Will the Lay Judge System Change the Japanese?

(From Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry (JJTI))

Byline: Matsunaga Tsutomu

Long known for its dour countenance, Japan's judiciary has recently become more approachable. The courts are inviting elementary and junior high school students into the courtrooms, allowing them to put on judges' robes and letting them have their pictures taken seated in the Chief Justice's chair. Children who wear the long-sleeved black robes, say cheerfully, "Just like Harry Potter!" The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has begun a visual presentation of evidence using video projectors.

The cue for this opening up of the legal world is the lay judge system that will be introduced by May 2009. In almost all advanced nations, citizens are allowed to participate in the legal process. Japan had a brief experience of the system beginning in 1928, but that came to a halt at the time of World War II.

There are several reasons for the introduction of the lay judge system this time around. Critics have long clamored for improvement of the closed nature of court trials, which continue at great length and are not based on the actual legal battle in the courtroom but on considerations of documents and records composed in legal terminology. Admittedly Japanese judges are serious and earnest and the "quality" of the courts gives a definite image of reliability but there is frequent criticism of their slowness in delivering verdicts. The first trial of the Aum Shinrikyo leader, who ordered terrorist attacks that shocked Japan, took a full seven years and 10 months.

This new system of lay judges is different from trial by jury in which citizens determine by vote whether a defendant is innocent or guilty independently of the judge. As a general rule, three judges and six selected citizens will work together as one panel to determine guilt or innocence and to decide the appropriate punishment. In order to speed up the actual trials, the points at issue in the case will be sorted out before the trial and a system will also be established so that the trial can be completed in a single day for cases involving comparatively minor offenses.

The new law (Act Concerning the Participation of Lay Assessors in Criminal Trials) was passed in May 2004, but it appears that public understanding remains insufficient. In a poll carried out by the Cabinet Office, some 70% of the respondents answered that ...