A judicial reform panel Wednesday agreed Japan's judicial system be changed to introduce lay judges chosen from the public to hear criminal cases alongside professional judges, but stopped short of recommending trial by jury.
"The members of the panel generally agreed in a meeting ... that they want members of general public to work with judges to rule on and hand down sentences in criminal cases that may involve death sentence or life imprisonment," said Eimei Kozai, an official with the panel's secretariat.
The agreement marks a turning point in the Japanese judicial system, in which up to now, legal professionals -- whether sitting singly or on a panel of three -- act as both judge and jury, determining both verdicts and sentences.
"They are still studying the judicial systems of various countries to come up with a detailed reform proposal by March that would fit Japanese society," the official said.
"They will submit an official reform recommendation to the prime minister in June."
The roots of the current Japanese judicial system roughly date back 100 years and are based on the German court system.
Shortly before the World War II, district courts in Japan used various sorts of jury systems. But the practice ended as the war started.
After the war, a new constitution, drafted under the auspices of the occupying Allied powers, established the present system, under which members of the public do not participate at all in verdicts.
The reform panel has yet to agree on how many members of the public, who would be known as "lay judges," would participate in a trial, Kozai said.
One panel member said Wednesday that the lay judges should outnumber the professional judges in order to reflect the public's voice in verdicts.
"This panel must do all it can to bring the voice of the public to the judicial system," Hatsuko Yoshioka, secretary general of the Japan Housewives Association told AFP on Wednesday.
Yoshioka suggested a system, closer to the US or British model under which "lay judges" would rule on guilt or innocence, and professional judges would determine the appropriate sentence.
"Sentencing, I believe, requires technical knowledge of the law. But the verdicts themselves must reflect the voices of the people," she said.
"Our efforts to reform the judicial system are basically efforts to bring the system closer to the people," she said.
A representative of a powerful lawyers association welcomed the panel's discussion, although the group wants it to go further and introduce a fully-fledged jury system in Japan.
"The fundamental changes that we want is for the public to be able to participate in the judicial system," said Masato Tani, a member of the judicial reform council at the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
"If the government panel's discussion leads to that, it's definitely a step in the right direction," he said.
Judicial reform is necessary because the current Japanese system relies too much on professional judges and is bureaucratic, Tani said.
"The public must be given the duty and responsibility to shape Japan's judicial system," Tani said.
"The jury system allows a number of people to review a case from various perspectives to rule on the facts." -- TOKYO (AFP)
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