국민참여재판 및 배제제도의 개선방안에 관한 비교법적 연구 -미국의 성범죄 배심재판에서의 성폭력피해자보호법 (Rape Shield Law)을 중심으로-

The article suggests a number of amendments to Korean jury trial and its exclusion system through the comprehensive comparative review of the U.S. jury trial system. It also examines the issues on sexual crimes in jury trial, and its protection measures for the sexual crime victims under the current law. The article further introduces U.S. law in regulating the patterns of victim-blaming and secondary victimization shown in the criminal jury trials. With numerous sexual crime cases going under the jury trials, an adequate tool to prevent the secondary damage of the sexual crime victims in criminal jury trials is important. It is emphasized that the history of the Rape Shield Law in the U.S. has been developed in order to prevent the juries from having an access to irrelevant evidence in sexual crime cases, and thus, prevent the prejudice against the victims. If the defendant is allowed to reveal the victim’s past sexual history or sexual orientation in the court, and further permitted to attack the victim’s sexual immorality or integrity in front of the juries, then the public’s trust in the jury trial will be decreased substantially. Therefore, in order to protect both the defendant’s right to the jury trial and the interests of sexual victims in their fair trial, proper amendments and revisions shall be implemented to estop the prevalent “Rape Myth” in criminal jury trials.