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Citizens As Legal Decision Makers: An International Perspective, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

On May 1, 2007, Korea's National Assembly approved a judicial reform bill that introduces a jury system for serious criminal cases in Korean courts. The jury system is limited: jurors will only participate in cases where the defendant agrees to a trial by jury, and the jury's verdicts are only advisory to the judge. Nonetheless, Korean citizens now have a remarkable new opportunity to make judgments about criminal trials.

With this law reform, Korea joins a growing list of countries whose legal systems employ citizens as legal decision makers. The United States, Great Britain, and many other common law countries …