Comparative Analysis of Popular Legal Participation in Japan and the U.S.: Differential Perceptions of Actual Jurors and College Students on the System of Lay Participation in Law

This paper presents comparative analyses of societal impacts of civic legal participation in Japan and the U.S. In 2001, the Japanese government announced the introduction of the quasi‐jury system, called ‘'Saiban‐in Seido,’’ which begins its first trial in 2009.² Research, limited mostly to the analysis of American juries, has demonstrated that civic legal participation is effective in democratizing the criminal process and building broader public confidence in the system of justice. At present, Japan relies on a grand jury system called ‘'kensatsu shinsa‐kai,’’ also known as the Prosecutorial Review Commission (PRC). The commission consists of eleven citizens, randomly selected from voter rolls in local jurisdictions, and reviews the appropriateness of prosecutors’ decisions not to indict. The data for the present research was collected from more than 200 individuals who have served in these commissions. They were asked about their experiences and views on Japanese legal procedures. Additional surveys were conducted of more than 2,500 prospective jurors at the Dallas County Courthouse in Texas in March and April, 2006. Furthermore, both Japanese and American college students were asked to respond to the same questions concerning lay participation in the justice system. Analytic findings suggest that both Japanese and American respondents with prior jury experience exhibited a heightened sense of civic responsibility, greater feelings of trust toward government agencies, and a greater sense of community identity and self‐efficacy. Lastly, the paper provides important suggestions to build an effective system of civic lay participation in Japan, as well as in other nations.

Notes

This research was supported by the University of California, Office of the President, Pacific Rim Research Program (Award#:19900–485212) and the 2006 Abe Fellowship Program administered by the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies in cooperation with funds provided by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. Assistance with the design of the study to collect information from the Prosecutorial Review Commissions (PRC) Society in Japan was offered by Naoko Tamura and Kiichi Hirayama. For assistance with collecting and processing the data reported herein, we wish to thank Sheri Kurisu, Diana Lopez, Horacio Sanchez, Theodore Cha, Mauricio Orantes, Lora Verarde, Phuong Mai, Hector Garcia, and Fanta Summers. At the Dallas County Courthouse, we received helpful cooperation and oversight from Court Jury Services Manager Lori Ann Bodino and Attorney Arthur Patton. Lastly, I also thank Attorneys Richard Krooth and Lorraine A. Silvers for their editorial suggestions and comments.

Contact information: Hiroshi Fukurai, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA. Telephone: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. E‐mail: [email protected].