It's been roughly a half year since the first lay judge trial, and many in the legal profession agree the new criminal trial system has gotten off to a smooth start, and the public is taking its new civic duty very seriously.
But as more cases are tried by the combination of professional and citizen judges, the ordinary people who participate will face new challenges — including deciding whether to hand down the death penalty. The first such test may come next week in a murder trial that got under way Tuesday at the Tottori District Court.
According to a Kyodo News tally, as of Feb. 13 a total of 232 cases had been tried under the "saibanin seido" (lay judge system), in which six randomly chosen registered voters sit on the bench with three professional judges to try heinous crimes. Together, the nine members of the panel determine the facts and decide the sentence if they find the defendant guilty in a majority vote.