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Popular Participation in Japanese Criminal Justice

From Jurors to Lay Judges

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Andrew Watson

    1. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom

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  • Provides the most comprehensive analysis of participation by ordinary citizens in Japanese criminal justice
  • Presents interdisciplinary perspectives drawn from criminology, sociology, law and history
  • Discusses participation by ordinary citizens in Japanese criminal justice from 1920 to the present

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
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  2. A New Chapter in Japanese Social and Legal History

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 1-5

  3. An Earlier Experience of Lay Involvement in Court Decisions in Japan: The Jury 1928–1943

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 7-33

  4. Disquiet About Japanese Criminal Justice and a Revival of Interest in Juries

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 35-52

  5. The Debate About Juries

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 53-68

  6. The Judicial Reform Council and Its Recommendations

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 69-85

  7. The Saiban-in Law and Intense Preparation for Its Operation

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 87-101

  8. Launch and Then Solid Progress

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 103-111

  9. Concerns and Challenges

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 113-144

  10. Opinions on the Lay Judge System

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 145-151

  11. Successes of Lay Judges and Failures of 1928–1943 Juries

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 153-160

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 161-177
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Keywords

About this book

This book analyses the mixed courts of professional and lay judges in the Japanese criminal justice system. It takes a particular focus on the highly public start of the mixed court, the saiban-in system, and the jury system between 1928-1943. This was the first time Japanese citizens participated as decision makers in criminal law. The book assesses reasons for the jury system's failure, and its suspension in 1943, as well as the renewed interest in popular involvement in criminal justice at the end of the twentieth century. 


Popular Participation in Japanese Criminal Justice proceeds by explaining the process by which lay participation in criminal trials left the periphery to become an important national matter at the turn of the century. It shows that rather than an Anglo-American jury model, outline recommendations made by the Japanese Judicial Reform Council were for a mixed court of judges and laypersons to try serious cases. Concerns about the lay judge/saiban-in system are raised, as well as explanations for why it is flourishing in contemporary society despite the failure of the jury system during the period 1928-1943. The book presents the wider significance of Japanese mixed courts in Asia and beyond, and in doing so will be of great interests to scholars of socio-legal studies, criminology and criminal justice.


Authors and Affiliations

  • Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Andrew Watson

About the author

Andrew Watson is Senior Lecturer in Law at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He has previously worked at Niigata University, Japan, and the College of Law, London, UK.

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