The Rebirth of Japan's Petit Quasi-Jury and Grand Jury Systems: A Cross-National Analysis of Legal Consciousness and the Lay Participatory Experience in Japan and the U.S.

This is a unique moment in the history of the Japanese legal system, as the Japanese Government has decided to introduce "Saiban-in Seido"-a petit quasi-jury system-which will be instated in 2009.1 The introduction of the first quasi-jury trial also marks the start of another newly-revised grand jury system, called "Kensatsu Shinsakai," or the Prosecutorial Review Commission (PRC). 2 The revised PRC law mandated that the resolution be given legally binding status, and that the law be put into effect by May 2009, when the first quasi-jury trial begins in Japan.While many scholars have studied the petit quasi-jury system, 3 the newly revised grand jury system, i.e., the PRC system, will have a far greater impact in democratizing the criminal process and building broader public 1.Saiban'in no sanka suru keiji saiban ni kansuru horitsu, Law No. 63 of 2004."Saiban-in seido" is translated as "the lay assessor " or "mixed court" system.The more appropriate translation is the "quasi-jury" system, which will be used here.See Kent Anderson & Emma Saint, Japan's Quasi-jury (Saiban-in) Law: An Annotated Translation of the Act Concerning Participation of Lay Assessors in Criminal Trials, 6 AsIAN-PAC.L. & POL'Y J., 233, 233-35(2004) (discussing the difficulties in translating the Act).2. "Kensatsu shinsakai" is usually translated as "inquest of prosecution" or "prosecution review commission."The more literal translation is "prosecutorial review commission," which will be used here.See Kent Anderson & Mark Nolan, Lay Participation in the Japanese Justice System: A Few Preliminary Thoughts Regarding the Lay Assessor System (saiban-in seido) from Domestic Historical and International Psychological Perspectives, 37 VAND.J. OF TRANSNAT'L L. 935 965-966 (2004).3. See, e.g., Kent Anderson & Leah Ambler, The Slow Birth of Japan's Quasi-Jury System (Saiban-in seido): Interim Report on the Road to Commencement, 21 ZEITSCHRIFT FOR JAPANISCHEs RECHT/