A judicial reform panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party called Thursday for the introduction of "mixed courts," a system adopted in a number of European countries to promote public participation in legal proceedings.

Under the system, judges and ordinary citizens make decisions on matters of fact, law and sentencing.

In the same report, the panel said that it doubts Japan is ready for a jury system but did call for a substantial increase in the number of legal professionals and the establishment of law schools to better educate them.

The LDP group began discussions in November on how to make the judicial system more accessible to the general public as well as to meet society's demands. It has received input from business circles and legal professionals.

Okiharu Yasuoka, the Lower House member heading the panel, said he expects the report to be discussed by the Judicial Reform Council, an advisory panel to the Cabinet that has been holding its own discussions since July.

The report says the number of legal professionals should be increased. Specifically, it says the ratio of lawyers to citizens should be at least on a par with France. As of 1997, France had 50 lawyers for every 100,000 people, while Japan had only 13.

The panel said the ideal scenario would be to introduce a system under which judges work as lawyers for some time before sitting on the bench, but pointed out that the country still lacks sufficient legal professionals to attain that goal.

The panel also proposed improving the training of judges and expanding the current system that enables some lawyers to become judges.

The report also calls for measures to speed up hearings in both civil and criminal courts. Efforts should also be made to increase the number of judges, prosecutors, secretaries and other court workers.

The government is to start reducing the number of its bureaucrats in fiscal 2001, but the panel said those involved in judicial affairs should be excluded from the cuts. The report also calls for increasing the budget for judicial affairs, which currently only accounts for 0.4 percent of the total government budget.

The panel said it welcomes moves by Japanese universities to establish law schools to provide better education for would-be legal professionals, adding that a sufficient amount of scholarship money should made available to those who wish to enter the schools.

The report also calls for improving so-called alternative dispute resolution services, such as those mediated by legal experts and other specialists out of court. It also proposes that judicial clerks, notary publics, patent attorneys and other legal specialists participate in lawsuits. Methods to help crime victims receive more information on trials and compensation should also be created, as well as a new system to ensure the right of the accused to hire lawyers even before they are indicted, the LDP panel said.