國民法官選任程序之研究

A Study on the Selection of Lay Judges

國民參與審判制度為我國重要的司法改革的項目，期望藉由國民參與刑事案件的審理和評議過程，以增進國民對審判之瞭解並提升對於司法之信賴。自司法院推行「國民法官制度」並於全國各地方法院試辦數場的模擬法庭過程中，或許是因新制度的施行，運作上較無經驗，故可以觀察到國民法官的選任過程有著些許的問題與爭議，例如：訊問階段應如何訊問？那些內容可以問、那些不能問？訊問應有哪些限制？此外，就拒卻權行使方面：附理由拒卻權應採取何種認定標準？而當不附理由拒卻權被不當濫用時，該如何處理？是否應予以限制？本文將透過文獻分析與比較法的研究方式，參考美國選任程序之發展運作與實務經驗，並著重於訊問階段（訊問內容及其成效）與拒卻階段（認定標準與權利限制）兩個部分，再審酌我國情狀以提出選任問題之可能解決方法，並結合參與模擬法庭之經驗提出選任時之選任原則與心態，以供我國程序與實務參考應用。

Lay participation is a significant reform in Taiwan's criminal justice system. To study the possible problems of the new lay judges' system, the Judicial Yuan hosted numerous mock trials in the district courts around Taiwan. During mock trials, the process of lay judge selection was perceived as both important and confusing by practitioners. For example, some of the most common questions raised by practitioners include: how to question the jurors about their background? How to find out potential bias? Who should be excluded? Whether the peremptory challenge should be restricted or not. This article focuses on answering these questions on the selection of lay judges. The article will begin with a brief introduction and the main goal of the selection of juries in Taiwan; then, it will introduce related procedures and detailed regulations of voir dire procedures in the United States. Finally, it will propose several solutions for amending the process of the selection process in the future.