Supporting Japan's Judicial System in the 21st Century: Opinion Paper of the Japan Judicial Reform Council

Author: Legal Policy Research Office, Supreme People's Procuratorate
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Compilation Note On the first day of the new year in 1999, the Japanese government announced the start of judicial system reform, enacted the "Act for Establishing the Judicial Reform Council," and established the Judicial Reform Council, which was specifically responsible for matters related to Japan's judicial system reform. Since its establishment, the Judicial Reform Council has, through meetings, soliciting broad opinions, and investigative visits to foreign countries, concluded its recommendations on judicial system reform, forming the "Judicial System for Supporting 21st-Century Japan—Opinions of the Judicial Reform Council" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"). The "Opinions" were submitted to the Cabinet by the Judicial Reform Council, serving as both an advisory document to the Cabinet and a message to the Japanese people.
The "Opinions" are based on the social realities of Japan in the 21st century, the expectations of the Japanese people for the judicial system, and the foundation for building Japan's judicial system in the 21st century. They outline the basic principles and directions of the current judicial system reform, propose goals and specific plans for civil judicial system reform, criminal judicial system reform, and internationalization responses. Particularly, they have designed multiple safeguard measures for the cultivation of judicial personnel (including judges, prosecutors, and lawyers) that support the judicial system and the improvement of mechanisms.
To clearly understand the progress of Japan's judicial system reform, we present to the readers the list of members of the Judicial Reform Council, the agenda of the Judicial Reform Council's deliberations, relevant materials on the "Act for Promoting Judicial System Reform," as well as the "Plan for Promoting Judicial System Reform in Japan" decided by the Cabinet meeting. We hope that the relevant experiences of Japan's judicial system reform...