The Meaning of the Peremptory Challenge in the Saiban-In (Lay Judges) Selection System in Japan

Abstract

In Japan and Korea, the great changes in the criminal judicial system happened around the same time. Since January 2008, the participation of the general public in the criminal justice system has been implemented in Korea, and since May 2009, in Japan as well. These new systems in the criminal judicial system present various problems, and one common problem shared by Japan and Korea is how the lay judges or jurors should be selected.

In our Japan-Korea joint research project, I, one of the Japanese researchers, suggest the importance of considering how the jurors or lay judges should be selected from the standpoint of both the legal theory and the game theory.

In this paper, I examine the outline of the Japanese saiban-in (lay judges) system, and consider the rationale for this system, and what the legal interpretation and the game theory can say about the saiban-in selection system. I also describe the Korean lay participation system.

Keywords: saiban-in (lay judge) trial system, saiban-in selection, game theory, constitutional theory, Japan