人民參與刑事審判中素人與專業的認知調查之研究：臺灣嘉義地院六場模擬法庭實證研究的若干發現

Perceptions of Lay Participation in Criminal Trials between Laypersons and Professionals: Findings from Six Mock Trials in Chia-Yi District Court in Taiwan

從2012年起臺灣為順應世界潮流與改善司法信賴，提出了人民參與刑事審判的法律草案，同時指定嘉義與基隆兩個地方法院作為試行法院，在法案審議過程中，也同時進行模擬法庭檢驗法案可行性，後來逐漸擴大試行規模與強度，筆者曾進行實證研究，迄今已經累積若干經驗與數據，雖然相對於國外相關研究，仍微不足道，但就人民參與刑事審判制度的本土驗證，實屬彌足珍貴，不論在現在或未來都可說是刑事法學與刑事司法的焦點。本文乃從2011年到2012年問筆者對嘉義地院六場模擬法庭，所進行的實證研究中之成果與若干發現為出發，調查在人民參與刑事審判中，素人與專業在認知上之差異與若干發現，同時透過美國與日本相關研究成果作為參考，進而考察這些差異的原因，初步提出一些可行的解決構想。具體而言，本文著眼於五個問題：一、從參與者在參與前後的認知調查，探求人民參與刑事審判的立法目的是否達成；二、模擬法庭的舉辦有利於對整體制度的理解與認知問題；三、素人是否能夠參與刑事審判的認知問題，從專業法律人的認知；四、從素人能夠參與刑事審判的自我認知；五、素人與專業法律人之認知差異原因探求與改善。期待從這些人民參與刑事審判累積的本土經驗反饋中，可以讓這個制度在臺灣更穩健地深耕與茁壯。

To catch up with the world trend and improve the confidence in Judiciary, the Judicial Yuan of Taiwan (the highest administrative organization of judiciary in Taiwan) has issued a draft law of lay participation in criminal trial (also called” Statute on the Pilot Implementation of the Advisory Assessor System in Trial”). In the meantime, tentative mock trials have begun to practice in two district courts (Chia-Yi and Keelung) and later expanded to several other courts in Taiwan since 2012. The author followed up and observed both the draft and the recent mock trials. Although some data have been accumulated, they are still rough and rare in comparison with the related studies conducted in the Western countries. This empirical study will fill the gap in the literature of criminal jurisprudence as well as of criminal justice in Taiwan. This article begins with some findings which were emerged from the empirical study on six mock trials in Chia-Yi District Court between 2012 and 2013. It aims to understand the participants’ perceptions of this new project, which were measured by qualitative interviews and questionnaires. In reference to the American and Japanese research results regarding juror and jury, this paper tries to explain the reasons of why the perceptional gap exists between the laypersons and professionals. This study tries to answer the following five questions: 1. To explore the aim of lay participation in criminal trial and ask whether or not it can be achieved in the participants’ cognition. 2. Whether the mock trials help the participants to understand the cognitive meaning of lay participation in criminal trial. 3. In the professionals’ cognition, can the laypersons participate in criminal trial? 4. The laypersons’ perceptions of their own participation in criminal trial and its gap with those of the professionals’. 5.The reasons and the solutions of cognitive deference between laypersons and professionals.