午夜剧场

The true appeal of lay assessor trials lies in the deliberation phase, where professional judges and ordinary citizens discuss whether a defendant is guilty or innocent, and if guilty, what the sentence should be. I fully experienced this appeal through numerous mock trials held at the Tokyo District Court just before the system's launch. To explore the operation of the new system, the deliberations were also opened to relevant parties. I also experienced transparent deliberations between legal professionals and citizens in mock deliberation projects organized by civic groups.

During these times, citizens were able to voice their opinions, and their diverse sensibilities shone through in the deliberations, leading to discussions that even impressed the professionals. This gave me great expectations for the new system of citizen participation. At the same time, I had a sharp premonition of the negative effects that would arise once the system started, as deliberations would become a "black box" due to confidentiality obligations.

The lay assessor system started in 2009. Since then, ten years have passed, marked by activities in lay assessor system committees and regular exchange meetings with former assessors through the Lay Assessor Network. During this time, as predicted, the diverse sensibilities of citizens were utilized in deliberations. However, due to the confidentiality regulations of the deliberations, even though citizens' eyes are brought into the deliberation room, they are shielded from the outside world. As a result, the valuable perspectives of citizens are not communicated at all, and because the limits of what is permissible to talk about are ambiguous, the experience of being a lay assessor has not spread to the surrounding community.

Therefore, to highlight the active role of lay assessors in deliberations through the raw voices of those with field experience and related parties, and to discuss solutions to issues such as the importance of relaxing confidentiality regulations so that the content of deliberations can be shared with society, a public symposium from a citizen's perspective was held at Aoyama Gakuin University last year, organized by the Lay Assessor Network and others.

In a panel discussion featuring former lay assessors, former judges, defense attorneys, and judicial reporters, the actual state of lay assessor trials was discussed. There were exchanges between panelists and questions from the floor, and the venue was filled with enthusiasm. Through the dialogue, it was confirmed that deliberations in lay assessor trials functioned as team discussions, that the perspectives of lay assessors were utilized, and that the experience gave former lay assessors a deep sense of accomplishment.

This book was born by taking the content of the lively discussions from that public symposium as its core, and supplementing it with discussions on issues by researchers and expert panelists, a joint proposal for relaxing confidentiality obligations, and further essays on the lay assessor system.

I hope that many people will read this book, that the experience of being a lay assessor will spread as a positive experience and become more familiar, and that the rate of refusal to serve will improve.

Shigeru Makino (Editor/Author)

Nippon Hyoron Sha

176 pages, 1,700 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time this magazine was published.