국민의 사법참여, 즉 국민이 재판에 참여하여 함께 판결을 선고하는 것은 민주주의와 법치국가의 실현을 위하여 의미 있는 것이다. 이러한 국민의 사법참여는“모든 권력은 국민으로부터 나온다”는「헌법」제1조 제2항에 의하여 천명되어 있었지만 한국에서 근대 사법제도가 도입된 이래 100여 년 동안 재판은 모두 직업법관에 의해 운영되어 왔고, 국민이 직접 참여하는 재판은 한 번도 그리고
시범적으로 운영된 적이 없다. 그러나 현재의 사법부 독립의 문제는 외부에서의 독립도 중요하지만 내부에서의 독립도 중요한 모토로 등장하게 되었고 이러한 논의에서 국민의 사법참여는 더욱 가열차게 주장되었다. 이러한 배경에서 우리 정부 2008년 1월 1일부터 시행되고 있는「국민의 형사재판 참여에 관한 법률」을 제정하였다. 이는 근대 사법(司法) 100년만에 국민에 의한 사법 통제라는 국민주
권 실현을 위한 하나의 기념비적인 법률임에 틀림이 없다. 그러나, 아무리 훌륭한 법률이라 할지라도 국민의 무관심에 의하여 용두사미가 될 수 있음은 말할 나위가 없다. 일부 특정집단에서만 국민의 사법참여를 주장하고, 이러한 국민의 사법참여가 국민주권의 실현이라고 하여도 다수의 국민이 배심제도에 대하여 거부감을 느끼고 또한 사법참여를 부담스러워한다면 결코 사법의 민주화는 요원할 것이다. 그러므로 국민 각자가 사법참여에 관심을 가지고 이에 적극 가담하여야 할 것이며, 또한 자신의 평결이 한 가정을 파괴할 수 있을 만큼 큰 파괴력을 가지고 있다는 것을 명심하고 결코 여론에 휘둘리지 않고 오로지 사실을 정확하게 판단하고 이에 대한 평결을 내리는 자질을 함양하여야 할 것이다. 이러한 관점에서 대학 정도의 고등교육기관은 평생교육의 일환으로 헌법과 민법 및 형법에 대한 일반적인 법리와 민사소송과 형사소송에 관하여 개략적인 설명이 포함되어 있는 과정을 개설하여 국민의 국민주권실현의 방법인 사법참여에 실질적인 도움을 주어야 할 것이다.
National judicial participation, which means people take part in trials
and sentencing judgments, is of significance to realize democracy and a
law-governed country. Although such judicial participation of the people is
in fact explicated in Clause 2, Article 1 in the Constitution, “All the
power come from the people,” since the modern judicial system was
introduced to South Korea, all the trials have been held by professional
judges for the past 100 years;never once, not even by way of showing
an example, has a single trial taken place where people directly
participated.
The current issues of judicial independence, however, have brought
internal, let alone external, independence to the fore, which prompted
heated arguments in favor of national judicial participation. Under such
circumstances, the Korean government enacted “the Act of Lay
Participation in Criminal Trials” which took effect on January 1, 2008.
Those in favor of national judicial participation argue that the system
should be brought in for people to take part in criminal trials by
reinforcing the democratic validity of judicature and promoting its
transparency, in order to establish the publicly trusted judicial system. On
the other hand, there are also voices of concern about people’s judicial
participation.
In principle, the national judicial participation system seems flawless, but the current judicial situations call for utmost prudence in incorporating
it into Korea’s court system. As well, it is crucial to maintain and
develop distinguished areas of the existing Korean code of criminal
procedure. For example, the U.S. jury system not only takes time and
money but also has the possibility of jury verdicts being affected. Further,
plea bargaining, a form of negotiation in a criminal case between a
prosecutor and a defendant, also implicates the possibility of harming
transparency and reliability because it helps deal out different levels of
punishment for the same charge, depending on convicts, at the expense of
legal values like‘consistency.’
In Germany’s mixed-bench court system, lay judges are not needed in
the existing judicial system because:
First, complicated criminal proceedings require a certain degree of
education in law to properly perform trials;thus, a lay judge’s lack of
legal knowledge might interfere in finding out the truth, depending on
cases. Second, questions that a lay judge has wrongly presented might
allow defense lawyers to make pleas for nullification. Additionally, in
reality, lay judges cannot be engaged in premeditated murder, breach of
trust, and complicated elements of Nebenstrafrecht (accompanying criminal
codes) in particular.
Third, the current authority over the examination of an offense gained
independence to a certain extent, limiting the influence of lay judges
during the practical examination, which generally relies upon the
experience of professional judges. Hence there are voices of concern about
national judicial participation. Of course, the system is a monumental law
for the exercise of popular sovereignty, specifically, judicial control of the
people, in 100 years of the history of modern judicature. Even a
magnificent law, nonetheless, may well lose its ground by apathetic public.
If only certain groups support national judicial participation, and which
is a way of realizing popular sovereignty, while most of other people feel
reluctant about the jury system and do not want to participate, then the
democratization of judicature would be just a long way off.
Therefore, with an active interest, each individual ought to enthusiastically
try to support national judicial participation;bear in mind that their verdicts can even hold sway over the fate of somebody else’s family;and
cultivate capabilities of making accurate decisions based upon facts and
passing verdicts, not being affected by prevailing opinions.
Considering all the above, college-level higher educational institutions
should install courses as a part of continuing education, which outline
general legal principles, civil and criminal actions about the constitution,
the civil and criminal codes, in an effort to give practical help with
national judicial participation, a way of realizing popular sovereignty.