Reflections on Citizen Participation in Criminal Justice in Japan: Jury, Saiban-in System and Legal Reform

Abstract

In the last several years, the administration of criminal justice in Japan underwent profound changes in a number of sectors. Besides the introduction of the saiban-in system, the Prosecutorial Review Commission has been significantly reformed, victims of crimes can now participate in trials, a pre-trial procedure aimed at speeding up the trial has been introduced, legal education reforms have been introduced, and there are discussions and experiments on complete videotaping of interrogation of suspects. The introduction of the saiban-in system, by drawing the attention of the public opinion and of scholars to the issues concerning the administration of criminal justice has functioned as a catalyst for all these reforms, whether they were already made or expected.

The move towards a concentrated trial, the shift from a “trial by dossier” to a trial based on the oral proceedings, in which the evidence is admitted during the trial, in sum the move away from an inquisitorial model towards a model based on accusatory principles could hardly have been possible without the introduction of a highly symbolic institution as the jury, in the form that was eventually designed for Japan. Nevertheless, internal and external resistances to the system are strong, and having created the premises to make the shift possible does not mean that it will succeed.