국민참여재판에 대한 법정책적 조명 - 한국의 국민참여재판과 일본의 재판원재판을 비교하며 -

「Civil Participation in Criminal Trials Act」 introduces Civil participation system in serious criminal trials. The introduction of the new Korean jury system brought on epoch-making changes in Korea. In Korean history there has been no jury system so far. In this sense the introduction of the jury system is regarded as a drastic change of the judiciary system. The civil participation trial system does not take the conventional form of the English of American jury. It is somewhat modified to fit into the Korean culture and reality. A potential jury panel is selected randomly from a district area, and the jury decides the guilty or not guilty in order to recommend its opinion to the court. The guilty or not guilty verdict should be unanimous in principle. Nevertheless, when the jurors cannot reach an unanimous verdict, they must consult with the court before deciding by a simple majority. Though the verdict of the jury is non-binding, the court must have regard to it, and must give reasons when the court returns a different verdict from the jury's. In case of guilty, the jurors also give their individual opinion on the sentence of the accused, which is non-binding as well. Therefore, the civil participation trial system in Korea is somewhat a hybrid system between a pure jury system in common law countries and a continental mixed jury system. The professional judges, who are appointed as judge by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea, had enjoyed a relative high respect and trust from the public. People are recently reluctant to trust the courts, because the judicial process and decisions are obscure to the public, and the judicial judgements appear to be sometimes biased in favor of the rich or the powerful at the cost of the justice and fairness. The purpose of the new jury system is to; ① reinforce the democratic legitimacy of the judicial process, ② enhance the transparency and credibility of the judiciary and ③ disseminate the legal mind and the reasonable thinking culture in the public. The government should start a nationwide campaign to foster the public participation in the jury trials. Diverse and various attempts should be encouraged to improve the jury trials.