First lay judge trial kicks off in Tokyo. Inicia primer juicio con jurado en Japón

El 21 de mayo fue el primer día de la introducción del sistema de jueces legos en Japón, saiban'in seido (裁 判員制度) en japonés. Los primeros juicios en el que se aplicará el nuevo sistema empezarán en julio, y se convocará a seis ciudadanos para examinar y juzgar casos penales junto con tres jueces profesionales de cortes de distrito.

Se dice que el sistema es un paso adelante en el sistema japonés de administración de justicia y con él, el país estará en el mismo nivel que otros países del G8.

Sin embargo, a pesar de numerosos intentos del Ministerio de Justicia para familiarizar a las personas con el sistema (a través de videos gratuitos disponibles en las tiendas de alquiler de videos o por medio de caricaturas como esta [jp]), la mayoría de ciudadanos japoneses parecen estar perplejos y bastante inquietos sobre las consecuencias que pueda traer un juez lego, como informó una reciente encuesta de CNET Japan.

La encuesta muestra que 65.1% de los encuestados (361 personas de entre 30 y 40 años) se declararon en contra de la participación de ciudadanos comunes en el proceso de juzgamiento. Se han dado múltiples razones pero las principales fueron ‘no me gusta juzgar a otros’ (52.8%), ‘no quiero tener problemas’ (44.3%) y ‘no confío en mi juicio’ (43.8%).

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The first trial involving lay judges kicked off in the Tokyo District Court with Katsuyoshi Fujii, 72, pleading guilty to murdering his neighbor, Mun Chun Ja, 66, in May.

Before introduction of the lay judge system, which entails six citizens sitting with three professional judges to try serious criminal trials, Japan was the only Group of Eight nation whose public did not participate in criminal trials, according to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. Japan had a jury system between 1928 and 1943, but only on a limited basis.

Many people remain reluctant to participate in the new system, in which they will have to reach verdicts and hand down sentences, including the death penalty, opinion polls show.

Fujii's trial is scheduled to last three days, followed by closed-door deliberations by the lay and professional judges, who are to decide the verdict based on evidence, and the possible sentence.

The verdict must be decided by a conditional majority vote where at least one professional judge must be included in the majority decision.

Previously, defendants entered the courtroom after all the judges took their seats. The change in the process was a compromise made by the Justice Ministry after the Japan Federation of Bar Associations argued that seeing defendants in handcuffs could have a negative influence on the lay judges. Defendants also used to sit in front of the lawyers.They said Fujii has a criminal record, had a strong intent to kill Mun and chased her around with a knife, shouting he was going to kill her.appeared to listen intently as they used documents distributed by both parties to follow along with the presentations.According to the court, 47 prospective lay judges showed up at the courthouse in Chiyoda Ward as of 9:10 a.m. out of 49 who were summoned.
The law sets a maximum ¥100,000 fine for people who fail to show up to be a lay judge candidate on the designated date "without due reasons."

The candidates were given an orientation session. After a DVD presentation explaining what they were expected to do as lay judges, the candidates were briefed on the case by a court official and were asked to respond to a questionnaire asking whether they knew the defendant, the victim or their families, or if any serious hardship prevented them from serving.