A new system to allow citizens to participate in judging serious criminal cases will begin Thursday with the aim of reforming a trial process sometimes criticized for being too abstruse and out of touch.
Criminal cases for which indictments are filed will be tried under the new system, and the first trial attended by a panel of professional judges and lay judges is expected to be held in late July at the earliest.
The public will be participating in trials for the first time in Japan since a jury system was operated between 1928 and 1943.