Pilot program modifies the jury system

Ji Li (second left), a juror, hears evidence in June with a judge and another juror during a trial at Shizhong District People's Court in Zaozhuang, Shandong province. Ji Zhe / for China Daily

Limited role

Under the new rule introduced by the Supreme People's Court, a pool of jurors will be chosen by lot from residents age 28 and above who have no criminal record and have graduated high school. But the education criterion is lowered for "highly respected people" in villages and remote areas.

The number of jurors in the pool has to be five times greater than the number of judges in an administration area. Jurors for a trial are selected randomly from the pool several days before the hearing starts.

Under civil and criminal procedure, most cases must heard by at least three people, so a panel of two jurors and one judge is set up for a trial.

Defendants have no right to waive jurors. The law allows one judge to make court rulings in simplified procedure cases without complicated complaints.

According to the Supreme People's Court, about 70 percent of cases at the initial trial stage were tried with jurors last year, when the number of jurors in China was 209,000 and they heard 2.19 million cases.

Cao Wei, a lawyer specializing in civil law in Anqing, Anhui province, said that although jurors participate in a wide range of civil and criminal cases, that doesn't necessarily mean their voices are heard in court. He believes their role in trials is limited.

In a number of cases that he defended, the jurors didn't raise any questions in court and just listened. He couldn't obtain any information about whether the jurors had voted to make a ruling or not from studying the verdict. The jurors' rights and obligations are not specified in Chinese laws. Without statutory authority, jurors' views on cases could easily be influenced by the judge, he added.

Li Shaoping, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, acknowledged that some jurors didn't fulfill their duties by discussing cases.

Li said the new rule is intended to crack down on jurors not performing their duty by stipulating their rights during trials and requiring them to attend discussions of rulings after a court hearing is adjourned. "The voting procedure is specified in the new rule," he added.

"Under the new regulation, the jurors must give their opinions clearly on a case, which have to be written into the verdict along with their names," he said.

Under the pilot program, courts must have jurors in first-trial cases concerning major public interests and involving sentences of more than 10 years and life sentences. They are encouraged to employ a panel and select more than three jurors to take part in the trials.

Li said the pilot program will also look at ways to allow jurors to avoid service if they are not qualified.

In China, a citizen doesn't have the duty of being a juror. The jury system is based on the assumption that all citizens are willing to participate in the judiciary and willing to serve as jurors for at least one five-year term.

Beijing resident Zhang Renqi, 64, served for 22 years as a juror in the city's Dongcheng District People's Court, and recently resigned. He had been recommended by the company where he worked

Zhang said he was proud of his efforts in one case that showed leniency to a defendant charged with injuring a man in a fight. He and the other juror insisted that the charge be dropped because Spring Festival was approaching, and they believed the defendant should not be detained for causing such a minor injury.

However, the personal injury case in Beijing and the hit-and-run case in Zhengzhou are the type of examples cited by legal professionals who advocate that jurors don't have sufficient knowledge to make rulings under the principles of law.

No authority

To remedy this problem, the modified system will not allow jurors to have the same authority as a judge in court rulings. They will be limited to deciding whether a person is guilty or not and will have no rights when it comes to sentencing.

Chen Weidong, a law professor at Renmin University, said the change borrows from the systems in the United States and Britain, where jurors have no authority in sentencing. "The modification was made to take into account the lack of professional legal knowledge among jurors," he said.

To enable jurors to understand legal rules, a district court in Beijing sends its jurors to the National Judges College to receive three-days' training every year.

He Bing, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, said a procedure should be in place to ensure the independence of jurors.

He believes that the changes to the jury system could lead to a breakthrough in democratic progress. "The jury system is a channel to send public opinion into the courtroom," said He, adding that an effective system will help protect judicial independence and will also prevent corruption by imposing checks and balances on judges.

zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn