The judicial participation by the nation, in other words, that people join the process of judicial trial and come to the judgement and declare in association with the professional judge, it represents the significance in actualizing the democracy and ...
The judicial participation by the nation, in other words, that people join the process of judicial trial and come to the judgement and declare in association with the professional judge, it represents the significance in actualizing the democracy and the legal state governed according to the law.
The people’s judicial participation is on the basis of the provision 1(2) of Constitution “every power comes from the people” and the provision 27 (1) “every nation has the right to receive the judicial trial according to the law and it is available only by the judge appointed on the Constitution and the law.”
Since the modern type of judicial institution had been brought in Korea, every judicial trial on the law had been so far managed by the professional judge for 110 years.
Formally speaking, there had been no judicial trial which the people had participated in the process, and there had been no case which had been done even as a sample.
In this way, it had been thought by most of people that traditionally the judicial trial would have been managed only by the qualified and the professionally-trained judge on the top-grade.
However, most of modern states has been attempting to make the system of the people-in-trial together with the judge who should manage with all processes in judicial trial.
It represents that the people is not just in the passive role of receiving the judicial trial as an attendant, but still in the positive role of join the trial process as an participant. Those actions show the effort to provide the judicature with the democratic validity.
The argument of “the people’s participation in judicial trial” has been raising simultaneously the issue of jurisdiction independence.
The discussion on this issue deals with the independence from the external and internal intervention. In such a background, the government had legislated the “the law on the people’s participation in criminal trial” since Jan 1st 2008.
In the modern history of legislation of 110 years, this law is sure to be the historical monument by showing the people’s sovereignty actualized by the judicial regulation.
This article will be in progress of study by focusing on the purpose as follows.
Firstly, it analyzes the types of the people’s participation in judicial trial, and deals with the strength and the weakness of states on Anglo-American law which initiates the jury system, and of states on the Continental law which employs the Schoffengericht, and finally it notes on the study of how to invite the system of the people’s participation in judicial trial as a hybrid style.
Secondly, this article deals with the inquiry over the problems of the people’s participation in judicial trial when compared with the current procedure of criminal affairs.
Thirdly, it provides with the practicability of the jury system and the Schoffengericht on the basis of current approach of the Constitution, and it asserts with the analysis of the Constitutional Court’s decisions in attitude and commentary.
On forth, this article underlines the note on legal approach about the people’s participation in judicial trial and on the role & function of legal entity in lawsuit.
On fifth, by understanding the law on the people’s participation in criminal trial in critical approach, it presents the legal solutions on the institutional and the operational issues.
In conclusion, in order to put the democratic legitimacy on the judicial authority by allowing the people to participate in criminal trial, it is natural to ensure the binding power of the jury’s fact finding in trial by the jury. In addition, it is meaningful to underline not the formal debating between the members of jury, but the weighting of an offense regulated by the weighting criteria.
Even in our country, the invitation of jury system has not been fully discussed, but it has been considered just as a decorative model. Thus, by way of the Schoffengericht and the weighting criteria of an offence, this article will earnestly think about what is necessary in order to ensure the grant of democratic justice, the recovery of judicial credit, and currently how the system of people’s participation in trial which comes on Jan 1st 2008 corresponds with the purposes as mentioned above.
Whether the system of people’s participation in judicial trial is successful or not is up to the nation’s voting ratio. Since it is doubtable how much people acknowledges this system, it is requested to lead the people to know simply what the system of people’s participation in judicial trial, and to understand the contents and the significances of this system. Through these actions all, it is not expected to seek the positive cooperation without the full comprehension of this system.In order to seek the people’s understanding to this system, it is necessary to make the training program for all people and the advertising program by utilizing the study on how to train the education on law in primary school, middle school, high school, and through the conference jury, etc. and by actualizing it trough the variety of media.
Just as in Japan, if it is low for the accused to apply to the people-in-trial in participants’ ratio, and if it too hard to get approved, and if is too high to shrink from the duty of a jury, and if it results from the insufficient publicity and recognition, this system of people’s participation in judicial trial will fail to take root.