Sunday May 27, 2012

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  • 0

    Schoolboyerror

    Personally I would be quite happy, but I doubt most Japanese would feel that way. I bet justice comes way down the list, behind collecting Gundam figures, reading manga and wasting your life pretending to be busy for most Japanese men. Similarly most women will just want to get it over with so they can get back to their shopping and gossipping.

  • 0

    neverknow2

    Schoolboyerror- You hit the nail on the head with this one. Ever seen Japanese say what think in in front of other people? Me neither. First juror syas guilty, all the rest copy so as not to cause any trouble.

  • 0

    Brainiac

    I was on a jury once in Australia. A young couple were on trial for stealing a car and crashing it into a shop. I remember the girl wore a miniskirt during the trial, so naturally the males on the jury were inclined to be lenient towards her. But they were both eventually found guilty after about two days.

    What I recall, though, is how much our jury deliberations were like that brilliant movie "Twelve Angry Men." Every juror had his or her prejudices. Some thought the owner of the car (who was wealthy snobbish woman) got her comeuppance by having her car stolen. Others felt that nice girl must have been badly influenced by her no-good boyfriend, and so on.

    Two things bother me about being on juries. Most people are not familiar with the technicalities of the law and can't keep up with either the prosecution or defense attorney's jousting. We tend to go with our gut instinct. I remember hearing the judge tell us we should disregard what a certain person said. Well, how can you? If someone says, "He beat me up. I had to do it," you're going to be impressed by that testimony, whether it is true or not.

    The second thing that bothers me is that I wish jury members could directly question witnesses.

  • 0

    nisegaijin

    we don't have that in my country.... my Japanese is not good enough to be eligible so doesn't apply to me.

    saying that, i think it should be a matter of choice and there should be a reward.

  • 0

    Schoolboyerror

    I think having a range of opinions like the ones you described would be a good thing, Braniac. Of course, some people will be more persuasive than others, but it certainly can't hurt to have a variety of points of view. And when the judges do little more than rubber stamp a guilty verdict, something has to change.

    Unfortunately, I can't imagine Japanese jurors having a constructive discussion about a case. The oyajis will give their opinion, and the younger office ladies will not contradict them. Instead they'll just mutter "shouganai" and scurry off to their shopping trips, glad not to have been groped.

    I wouldn't like to be the first foreigner up in court in front of a bunch of Japanese jurors furious at being dragged from their everyday lives.

  • 0

    Nessie

    I would leap at the chance to patriotically serve my community, especially if it were a high-profile murder trial that I could cash in on by selling the story to the tabloids.

  • 0

    Patrick Smash

    They'll decide which juror is the erai person, probably based on a brief discussion of which schools and colleges they attended, and which they companies they work for. Then they'll all follow the leader, agree guilt, and scurry off to the nearest famous ramen shop for lunch.

    Moderator: Readers, the question asks how you would feel if you were selected to be on a jury.

  • 0

    Altria

    I'd be surprised that they considered foreigners eligible for jury duty.

  • 0

    Bholder

    who is eligible really? everybody over 20? even 90 smth ojiisan?

    i would personally hate having to bear such heavy responsibility as to decide about someone's whole life with just a few brief statements presented upon us (with purpose) as a standard on which to form our opinion but that's just me... (by plural i meant to infer all members of the jury, and few brief statements mean the whole trial, nothing compared to the time it really takes one to know someone and judge them properly)

  • 0

    borscht

    They won't have to decide who the erai person is. The 'jury' will consist of three real judges and 9 (?) lay people. The lay people may just nod in agreement with the eldest of the three real judges. On topic, I'd like to sit on a jury just to have the experience and then see if I could really decide 'beyond a shadow of a doubt' that the guilty one is actually guilty. My problem is my ability to fantasize a situation in which the defendant could be innocent.

  • 0

    frontandcentre

    I would refuse on the grounds that despite paying taxes I have no political representation in Japan, therefore I shouldn't be obliged to waste my time rubber stamping the pre-determined guilt of others - which is what juries will almost certainly end up doing

  • 0

    nandakandamanda

    Every time a layer is peeled off in this country, and the story behind comes out, I am astonished. My pre-conceived notions generally tend to turn out to have been completely off-target. Another thing that bothers me after sitting in countless meetings is the Japanese consensus. Very rarely has my feeling or voice made a difference to what everyone has already decided. People around me seem to be disagreeing, but no-one speaks. Occasionally an utterance from me will swing things, but very, very rarely.

    For these reasons I would not like to have to be in a position to judge someone else's guilt or innocence.

  • 0

    whynothow

    I would love it... especially in Japan...."Doshiyo kana", "taihen ne" for months.

  • 0

    ptolemy

    Dont have to worry about it, I'm not a citizen. But hypothetically to answer, it is a duty to serve when called and go through the voir dire process and get selected.

  • 0

    Nessie

    it is a duty to serve when called and go through the voir dire process and get selected.

    Dire? It ain't as bad as all that.

  • 0

    nandakandamanda

    ptolemy, it may be a duty, but you are allowed to have feelings about it. That's the question above that we are all trying to answer, after all.

    (Although the question does not make clear what country we are discussing.)

    Moderator: Any country that has a jury system.

  • 0

    nandakandamanda

    Ah, thank you Mods. That means that our answers may be very different depending upon which country and legal system we come from. Although I am from a Western country, having now lived here for well over 30 years, I posted above about how I would feel being called up here in Japan.

  • 0

    Disillusioned

    Been on jury duty in Oz too. The only good thing about it was, I got paid for my time. The other jurors were pretty much illiterate and had no idea about the legal system. I thought it was a disgrace. I hope I never have to face a jury. They are mostly idiots. However, in Japan they would all be idiots.

  • 0

    Apsara

    I have been called up for jury duty in my home country, but since I was in Japan at the time, wasn't able to attend. I was brought up to believe that it is my duty as a citizen to serve on a jury if requested to, so I would have no problem with serving.

  • 0

    Betting

    I would gladly do it. As a citizen, at some point in time, we should make real contributions to our societies and this is one of the ways we can do that.

  • 0

    mareo2

    Happy, exited, it break the rutine, we can learn something about how justice work from the inside and be helpful to our society in a diferent way.

  • 0

    Weasel

    An entire waste of a day, being asked by lawyers a lot of oddball questions, and only being paid about $30 a day for your trouble - you be the judge if it's really worth it. Having gone through it...I'd rather pass if called again.

  • 0

    timorborder

    Isn't participating in such activities a responsibility that everyone must shoulder in being a responsible member of society?

  • 0

    CaptDingleheimer

    No problemo. All you've gotta do when you first get there is ask one of the lawyers: "Hey- this isn't gonna take all day, is it? I've got a klan meeting at 3:30, then I've gotta help make banners for the God Hates Fags rally this weekend." You'll be at home on the couch in your undies before 9:30am.

  • 0

    movieguy

    When I was in my home state I had to serve on a "GRAND JURY." That was interesting, but a huge difference from what most of us imagine. I had to report to the federal court house the first Monday, Tuesday AND Wednesday of every month for ONE YEAR. Grand jury was just a rubber stamp for the prosecutor. The prosecutors just presented evidence and in the case of the grand jury we just had to be presented enough evidence that the suspect "could have" committed the crime and then he or she would be turned over for trial.

    We had to listen to tons of cases and in some of the cases they would bring in several witnesses.

    All interesting but not once did we not indict someone for trial. Like I said, just a rubber stamp.

    The pay was $50 a day and we were there most days from 8:30 - 4:00.

  • 0

    ptolemy

    Oh ok, then I would really feel excited and jump up and down. Screaming to the top of my voice, "Thank you Zeus! You showed me great favor again!"

  • 0

    Sarge

    If I have to be in a courtroom, I want to be a lawyer - they get paid heaps more than jurors.

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