摘要：
This paper presents comparative analyses of societal impacts of civic legal participation in Japan and the U. S. In 2001, the Japanese government announced the introduction of the quasi-jury system, called "Saiban-in Seido,'' which begins its first trial in 2009. 2 Research, limited mostly to the analysis of American juries, has demonstrated that civic legal participation is effective in democratizing the criminal process and building broader public confidence in the system of justice. At present, Japan relies on a grand jury system called "societalkensatsu shinsa-kai,'' also known as the Prosecutorial Review Commission (PRC). The commission consists of eleven citizens, randomly selected from voter rolls in local jurisdictions, and reviews the appropriateness of prosecutors' decisions not to indict. The data for the present research was collected from more than 200 individuals who have served in these commissions. They were asked about their experiences and views on Japanese legal procedures. Additional surveys were conducted of more than 2,500 prospective jurors at the Dallas County Courthouse in Texas in March and April, 2006. Furthermore, both Japanese and American college students were asked to respond to the same questions concerning lay participation in the justice system. Analytic findings suggest that both Japanese and American respondents with prior jury experience exhibited a heightened sense of civic responsibility, greater feelings of trust toward government agencies, and a greater sense of community identity and self-efficacy. Lastly, the paper provides important suggestions to build an effective system of civic lay participation in Japan, as well as in other nations.
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中国学术期刊数据库
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维普期刊数据库
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