3 ms·
They aren't juries, they're judges. Lay judges.
by bluedanieru 14y ago
They aren't juries, they're judges. Lay judges.
- veidr 14y agoYes, sorry, you are right. The new law here in Japan requires citizens to serve as "lay judges" and not "juries". I don't know offhand all of the distinctions here (I think one difference is lay judges decide both guilt/innocence and the sentence, if guilty) but I think the Japanese system pretty similar to what Americans would think of as a "jury". Precisely speaking, however, they are indeed "lay judges".
- ConstantineXVI 14y agoAs far as I can comprehend from WP[0] "lay judges" have a more direct role in trials, where juries are mainly observers and merely make a decision based on the trial (including any instruction the judge gives them on evidence, assumptions, etc.). Interesting system, but I'm not really in a position to say which would be more effective (if either). [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lay_judges_in_Japan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lay_judges_in_Japan