The People Decide: The Effect of the Introduction of the Quasi-Jury System (Saiban-In Seido) on the Death Penalty in Japan

Abstract

The \t\t\t\t\tJapanese people will soon decide the fate of criminal defendants for the first \t\t\t\t\ttime in over 50 years. Under the Lay Assessor Act beginning in May, 2009, \t\t\t\t\trandomly selected members of the Japanese public will preside over criminal \t\t\t\t\ttrials alongside professional judges and be responsible for determining both \t\t\t\t\tverdicts and sentences. 's \t\t\t\t\tretention of the death penalty means that members of the public will ultimately \t\t\t\t\thave to decide whether a person lives or dies.\nThis article examines the potential \t\t\t\t\timpact of the new lay assessor system, or saiban-in seido, on capital \t\t\t\t\tpunishment in , \t\t\t\t\tand considers whether it may reduce death sentences to the point of effectively \t\t\t\t\tabolishing them at trial stage in the District Court. The article posits that the introduction of \t\t\t\t\tthe lay assessor system may create the momentum for to align its criminal justice \t\t\t\t\tsystem with that of other developed countriesthat is, \t\t\t\t\tabolition of the death penalty as an available criminal sanction.