An Analysis of a Lay Adjudication System and Open Judiciary

This paper presents analyses of impacts of lay adjudicators' participation in criminal matters in Japan due to the introduction of the new lay adjudication system – the Citizen Judge System [Saiban-in Seido] – in 2009. Since the late twentieth century, the introduction of the lay adjudication system seems to have been in international movement democratising the criminal justice system. This paper is devoted to an evaluation of the new system in terms of the balance between the concepts of democracy and a fair trial with consideration of the citizen judge procedures and the role of the citizen judges. In view of the closed nature of the Japanese criminal procedures and secrecy in the citizen judge system, this study will point out the challenges which prevent the fulfilment of democratic values in the practice of the citizen judge system.