Victim participation in criminal trials in Japan

Since 2000, the Japanese Code of Criminal Procedure has been revised twice to introduce into criminal trials two systems of victim participation: the Victim’s Statement of Opinion (VSO) and the Victim Participation System. This study addresses the impact of those systems on decision-making in criminal trials, with special focus on the impact on sentencing. Following a literature review are the early findings from my psychological experiment which focuses on sentencing by lay judges. The results indicate that information concerning crime victims does have an impact on sentencing, but it is immaterial whether or not the information is submitted through recently introduced systems. Evaluations of those systems from the perspectives of crime victims also indicate that they tend to evaluate at least the VSO positively, regardless of the statements’ perceived lack of impact on the outcome.