Tag - lay-judges

 
 

LAY JUDGES

Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 21, 2022
Japan's top court scraps manga editor's guilty verdict over wife's death
It is the first time a guilty ruling reached by a district court under the lay judge system has been thrown out by the top court after being upheld by an appeals court.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 27, 2020
High court throws out lay judge death sentence over murders of five in 2015
A high court scrapped on Monday a lower court ruling that had sentenced a man to death for killing five people on Awaji Island in 2015, sentencing him instead to life in prison after reviewing his mental state at the time.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Aug 2, 2019
Past participants in Japan's lay judge system reveal its challenges
"The accused was sitting right there, so close to me, and yet I felt like there was an unbridgeable distance between us."
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 23, 2019
Police recorded 88% of interrogations in lay judge cases across Japan in fiscal 2018
Police took complete video recordings during 87.6 percent of fiscal 2018 interrogations in criminal cases bound for lay judge trials, National Police Agency data showed Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 21, 2019
Third of Japan's lay judges say experience was stressful, but system viewed positively overall
One in three citizen judges recently surveyed by Kyodo News said passing judgment on their fellow peers in court was stressful, but a large majority still reflected on their experience as being positive.
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2019
Reviewing the lay judge trial system
Resolving issues surrounding lay judges hold the key to sustaining the system.
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2018
Reduce the burden on lay judges
Lay judge trials run too long, and they're getting longer.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 7, 2017
Architect of Japan's lay judge system to become chief justice at Supreme Court
The Cabinet on Friday tapped Supreme Court Justice Naoto Otani, the architect of Japan's lay judge system, to be head of the top court starting next month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 25, 2017
Police getting better about providing fully recorded interrogations for serious crimes
More lay judge trials are making use of fully recorded interrogations ever since police adopted new guidelines to avoid coerced confessions, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 4, 2016
In wake of yakuza incident, most courts taking steps to enhance safety of lay judges
Most courts that hold trials under the lay judge system are trying to enhance the safety of the participants after citizen judges in a gangster's trial were approached by people associated with the defendant,
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 8, 2016
Two men indicted for allegedly intimidating lay judges in yakuza trial
Prosecutors indicted two men Friday on suspicion of intimidating lay judges during the trial of a senior member of a yakuza crime syndicate in the first such charges since Japan's lay judge system was introduced in 2009.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 6, 2016
Prosecutors seek to halt yakuza trial after intimidation of lay judges
A trial involving a senior member of a crime syndicate may be halted after two men are held for menacing lay judges.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 17, 2016
Two men arrested for allegedly intimidating lay judges in yakuza trial
Police arrested two men Friday on suspicion of approaching lay judges during the trial of a senior member of a crime syndicate, the first such arrests since Japan's lay judge system was introduced in 2009.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2016
Lay judges in Kyushu approached before yakuza trial decision
Lay judges involved in the trial of a senior yakuza have been approached by someone believed to be associated with the defendant, sources said Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
Dec 18, 2015
Japan hangs prisoners days after lawyers' call for death penalty review
The executions of two death row inmates on Friday was a blow to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, which only last week reiterated a call for a moratorium on hangings and for a national debate on the matter.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2015
Token badges given to lay judges turning up in online auctions
At least two of the commemorative badges given to people who served as lay judges were posted on the Yahoo Auction website and fetched around ¥6,000 each, it was learned Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 13, 2015
State OKs interrogation, plea bargaining bills
The government approves bills to introduce a plea bargaining system, expand the scope of wiretapping and obligate police and prosecutors to record interrogations.
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2014
Reflecting citizens' views on justice
Japan's Supreme Court decision to reduce the prison terms of a couple convicted of fatally abusing their daughter highlights the difficulty in balancing the need, on one hand, to have ordinary citizens' views reflected in criminal trials through their participation as lay judges and, on the other, to maintain consistency with judicial precedents.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jun 18, 2014
Still dreaming of a Japan with juries — and without U.S. bases
At 84, Chihiro Isa hopes to see two things in his lifetime: the jury system reinstated in Japan and U.S. forces gone from Okinawa.
JAPAN
May 21, 2014
Top court says lay judge system working well at five-year mark
Nearly 50,000 people have participated as principal or alternate lay judges in criminal trials under the system introduced five years ago, the Supreme Court said.

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