Death Sentence and the Saiban-in (Lay Judges) System in Japan: Focusing on a Recent Precedent

死刑判決與日本裁判員制度：聚焦於近期案例

日本有八起案件，上訴法院撤銷了初審由裁判員(saiban-in)做出的死刑判決，且最高法院亦維持該判決結果。部分人士批評如此破壞了裁判員制度的目的，但本文透過探討一則近期的案例，從基本量刑原則的角度指出這種批評不適當。

In Japan, there have been eight cases in which the appeal court has quashed a death sentence handed down by the first instance of a saiban-in (lay judges) trial, and the Supreme Court has upheld that conclusion. Some have criticised these precedents for undermining the purpose of the saiban-in system, but this article examines one recent case to show that such criticisms are not appropriate from the viewpoint of basic sentencing principles.