Four years have passed since the lay judge system began on May 21, 2009. When it was introduced, there was fear that people might not fully support the system. But that has proven to not be the case, and the lay judge system has brought desirable changes in criminal proceedings. As of the end of March, nearly 40,000 citizens had served as lay judges or backup lay judges. Lay judge trials took an average of 6.3 days. More than 10 cases took more than 40 days.

Some cases, though, show that the judiciary has failed to consider sufficiently how to help lay judges who suffer emotional problems after being exposed to graphic evidence of heinous crimes.

In the past, public prosecutors' records of suspects' and witnesses' oral statements played a central role in criminal trials. After the lay judge system started, courts started to pay more attention to oral statements made and objective evidence presented during trials. In response, public prosecutors have started to disclose more evidence. To ensure fair trials, public prosecutors should be legally required to disclose all of the evidence in their possession to defense lawyers. Prosecutors who fail to do should be punished.