With the revision of the Civil Code and the Juvenile Law, which lowers the adult age, the age selected for lay judges will also be reduced from "20 years old" to "18 years old".
According to a survey by the Nippon Foundation, the perceptions of young people around the age of 18 are divided into half for and half for and against.
A lay judge system in which citizens participate in criminal trials for serious crimes such as murder and judge guilty / innocence and the weight of the sentence.
Until now, the age selected as a lay judge was "20 years old or older", but due to the revision of the Civil Code and the Juvenile Law that lower the adult age, it will be legally "18 years old or older" from April 1st.
In January, when the Nippon Foundation asked about the reduction in the age of being selected as a lay judge in a survey on the Internet for 17 to 19 years old, out of the 1000 respondents,
▼ "Agree" ▼ The percentage of respondents who answered "Rather agree" was 49.1% in total, and
▼ "Disagree" ▼ "Rather disagree" was 50.1% in total, and the pros and
cons were divided in half.
When asked "Would you like to participate in the Saiban-in trial?",
▼ "I don't want to participate" ▼ "I don't want to participate" was 48.1% in total,
▼ "I want to participate" ▼ "Rather" The total of "I want to participate" exceeded 28.1% by 20 points.
Regarding " feeling uneasy when selected as a lay judge,
" ▼ "making a wrong decision" was the most common answer at 31.2%,
followed by
▼ "responsibility for handing down heavy punishment" at 27%. ,
▼ "Young age and lack of sufficient life experience" is 20.8%, and
there is a lot of anxiety about judging.
Candidates for this year's lay judge have already been selected, so it will not be until next year that young people aged 18 and 19 will actually be selected.