世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1][part 2]

Shortly after the lay judge system was introduced in Japan earier this year, but before the first actual trial involving members of the public, the Cabinet Office Japan conducted a survey on behalf of the Ministry of Justice into the lay judge system.

Demographics

Between the 28th of May and 7th of June 2009 3,000 members of the public were randomly selected to participate in the survey, conducted by face-to-face interviews. 68.5% of the sample, or 2,054, were available and agreed to answer the questionnaire. 46.3% of them were male, 9.9% in their twenties, 16.0% in their thirties, 17.9% in their forties, 18.0% in their fifties, 21.1% in their sixties, and 17.0% aged seventy or older.

Japan Probe recently published a story from a tip of mine on a curious 3D animated reconstruction of the first lay judge trial, which I hope you find entertainly weird too.

Now, the first trial has completed, one where the defendant admitted to murdering a South Korean neighbour, but the trial was more about sentencing. The prosecution wanted 16 years, lawyers representing the victim’s family wanted 20 or more, but the defence said that their client had been provoked and felt 16 years was too long. As I alluded to in the first part of the survey, many armchair gaijin pundits were sure that he’d get off with a minimal sentence as it was only a foreigner he killed, or that the lay people would not dare disagree with the judge. The actual outcome was that he got 15 years,

Research results

Q6: With the participation in court proceedings of members of the public as lay judges, do you think your interest in court proceedings will rise and be more accessible to you? (Sample size=2,054)

Become very accessible	17.2%
Become to some degree more accessible	50.0%
Not really become more accessible	21.9%
Not become accessible at all	6.5%
Other	0.4%
Don’t know	4.1%

Q7: In order to make members of the public more willing to participate as a lay judge, professional judges, prosecutors, lawyers, etc are coming up with various schemes. If you were to be a lay judge, what sorts of things would you like to see from professional judges, prosecutors, lawyers, etc? (Sample size=2,054, multiple answer)

Judgements that even laypeople can understand	75.4%
Minimise the number of days that I have to attend court	48.5%
Courteous dealings	41.9%
Not producing a mountain of documents to read	39.9%
Give enough opportunity for me to express my opinions during debates	37.3%
Other	1.3%
Nothing in particular	3.1%
Don’t know	2.5%

Q8: If one is selected as a candidate lay judge, you are legally obliged to attend court. If you were selected, would you attend court? (Sample size=2,054)

Regardless of it being an obligation, I would attend	13.6%
Because it’s an obligation, I would have to attend	57.9%
Even though it’s an obligation, I wouldn’t plan to attend (to SQ)	25.9%
Don’t know	2.6%

Q8SQ: Why would you not attend? (Sample size=532, multiple answer)

Seems difficult to decide on innocence or guilt	46.2%
It’s a heavy burden to know my decision will decide the defendant’s fate	46.2%
I don’t know how the courts work	34.6%
I’m not confident that I could face a professional judge and express my opinion	34.0%
I have problems with my health	23.5%
Scared of reprisals from the defendant	23.3%
I can’t take time off work	22.7%
Cannot go because of family, nursing care, etc	9.4%
Other	7.7%
No particular reason	2.1%

Q9: In order to recommend to the general public that they participate in court cases, what sorts of things do you think the government should do? (Sample size=2,054, multiple answer)

Make court cases easier to understand	62.5%
Build an environment where even working people can easily participate	59.3%
Education at schools	45.2%
Build an environment where even those involved with childrearing, nursing can easily participate	43.8%
Make court cases faster	30.9%
Publicity activities (to SQ)	27.3%
Other	1.4%
Nothing in particular	3.4%
Don’t know	3.6%

Q9SQ: What sorts of publicity activities do you think the government should do? (Sample size=561, multiple answer)

Television, radio-based publicity	91.6%
Newspaper, magazine-based publicity	75.8%
Internet-based publicity	46.0%
Hold lectures, explanatory meetings, etc	39.4%
Carry out mock trials	39.2%
Hang posters in public facilities	39.0%
Distribute pamphlets	38.3%
Show, distribute publicity videos	28.2%
Other	0.7%
Don’t know	0.4%

[part 1][part 2]