「국민의 형사재판참여에 관한 법률」상 배심원선정절차의 내용과 검토 - 2006. 4. 12. 사개추위 모의재판의 경험을 중심으로

A Study on Jury Selection Process of 「Civil Participation in Criminal Trials Act」 in Korea - focusing on a Mock Jury trial on April 12, 2006 -

&nbsp;&nbsp;「Civil Participation in Criminal Trials Act」(the Act) passed the National Assembly of Korea on April 30, 2007, and it will come to effect on Jan. 1, 2008. The Act introduces Civil participation system in serious criminal trials. The jury is selected randomly from a district area, and will decide the guilty/not guilty (sometimes after consultation with the court) in order to recommend its opinion to the court. Though the recommendation of the jury is not 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 opinion on the sentence of the accused individually, which is not binding. The new jury system is somewhat hybrid system between a pure jury system and a continental mixed jury system. In this sense, we can say the hybrid system is a kind of pilot system, in order to determine which system is appropriate for the Korean culture and legal background.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;As the author worked for the Presidential Committee on Judicial Reform, he was engaged in drafting the Act, and took a role in preparing and exercising mock jury trials. This paper explores and analyses the important provisions of the Act, and reports experiences and lessons from the 4 mock jury trials, focusing on the jury selection process.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;As a result, this paper suggests some points. 1) The court should have authority to control questions by attorney, where they violate juror’s privacy unduly or they are irrelevant, etc. 2) Some measurements are required to protect juror privacy, including private sidebar voir dire. 3) Taking into account the Batson rule in USA, we must consider similar principles to prevent illegal peremptory challenges on grounds of race, gender, etc. 4) Pretrial publicity will have a tremendous impact on the impartial and fair decision by jury especially in Korea, where internet and media is widespread and popular. So we must be prepared to regulate the pretrial publicity question.