Seminar | International Seminar on Lay Participation in Trials—Discovery

The Draft Act on Lay Participation in Criminal Trials passed by the Judicial Yuan warrants the most attention and priority review for its unprecedented introduction of the single-charge system (dunsan-ipponshugi) and discovery. To prevent prior review of case files and evidence from imposing an excessive burden on lay judges lacking formal legal training and potentially leading to prejudgment, the draft departs from the current Code of Criminal Procedure—which allows the simultaneous transmission of case files and evidence to facilitate judicial investigation—by explicitly stipulating that upon filing charges, prosecutors shall submit only the indictment to the court and shall not transmit the case files and evidence along with it. This ensures that professional and lay judges form their mental impressions through the presentation of evidence by prosecutors and defense counsel in court only after the trial stage has commenced.

However, alongside the introduction of the single-charge system, the defense counsel's right to inspect case files was abolished and replaced by a discovery system. Operations through several mock trials held by the Judicial Yuan demonstrate that this approach is open to question, and the provisions concerning discovery in the draft are overly rudimentary, raising apparent constitutional concerns. To clarify this, it is necessary to introduce to the public the practical effects of operating discovery systems under the single-charge system in the United States and Japan.

With this consideration in mind, we intend to invite Melinda Sarafa, a New York State attorney with practical jury trial experience, and Yamamoto Takanobu, attorney and drafter of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations guidelines for retrial discovery, to Taiwan for a lecture series discussing practical experiences with discovery under the lay participation system. We also plan to invite representatives from the judiciary, prosecution, defense, academia, and both official and civil sectors with practical mock trial experience to engage in dialogues with the two attorneys from the US and Japan, aiming to achieve mutual learning and experience exchange, and looking forward to deeply understanding the pros and cons of various systems to help select the system best suited to Taiwan's current situation.

Time

June 4 (Mon) 9:00-17:00 (Registration begins at 8:45)
June 5 (Tue) 9:30-17:00 (Registration begins at 9:15)

Venue

Jie-Yun International Hall MAP (B1, No. 7, Lane 48, Sec. 2, Zhongshan N. Rd., Taipei City, please enter the venue from Exit R10 of the Zhongshan Metro Mall)

Target Audience

Practitioners, scholars, experts, students, and the general public interested in lay participation in trials

Notes

1. Headsets for simultaneous interpretation will be provided on-site in limited quantities. Attendees are kindly requested to register in advance to assist with headcount estimation.
2. Lunch is not provided at this seminar, but morning and afternoon tea and snacks will be served for attendees.
3. The content of the two-day seminar will not overlap. If you wish to attend the entire event, please fill out the registration forms for both sessions separately.

Foreign Speakers

Agenda

Time	June 4 (Mon)		June 5 (Tue)
	Content		Content
08:45-09:00	Registration		--
09:00-09:30	Opening Remarks Guests Hsueh Chin-feng, Attorney / Chairperson, Taipei Bar Association Margaret Lewis, Professor / Professor, Seton Hall University School of Law		Registration
09:30-11:00	Session 1 Regulations and Practice of Evidence Discovery in Japan (I) Speaker Yamamoto Takanobu, Attorney Moderator Hung Wei-te, Attorney ※On-site consecutive interpretation (Li Yi-hsiu / Ph.D. student, Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law)		Session 3 Regulations and Practice of Evidence Discovery in Japan (II) Speaker Yamamoto Takanobu, Attorney Moderator Lin Chun-hung, Attorney ※On-site consecutive interpretation (Li Yi-hsiu / Ph.D. student, Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law)
11:00-11:15	Tea Break		Tea Break
11:15-11:45	Panel Discussion Panelists Chen Yun-tsai, Professor Cheng Chia-hsin, Attorney		Panel Discussion Panelists Hung Wei-te, Attorney Hsu Chia-yuan, Professor
11:45-12:00	Q&A Session		Q&A Session
12:00-13:30	Lunch Break *Coinciding with the Wan An Drill, please return to the venue before 13:30		Lunch Break
13:30-15:00	Session 2 Regulations and Practice of Evidence Discovery in the United States (I) Speaker Melinda Sarafa, Attorney Moderator Yu Po-hsiang, Attorney ※On-site simultaneous interpretation		Session 4 Regulations and Practice of Evidence Discovery in the United States (II) Speaker Melinda Sarafa, Attorney Moderator Tsai Chih-hung, Judge ※On-site simultaneous interpretation
15:00-15:15	Tea Break		Tea Break
15:15-15:45	Panel Discussion Panelists Chin Meng-hua, Professor Cheng Kai-hung, Attorney		Panel Discussion Panelists  Li I-kuang, Attorney Chiang Nien-tsu, Assistant Professor
15:45-16:00	Q&A Session		Q&A Session
16:00-16:10	Intermission		Intermission
16:10-17:00	Plenary Discussion Moderator Yu Po-hsiang, Attorney All Panelists		Plenary Discussion Moderator Tsai Chih-hung, Judge All Panelists

Co-organizers

Taipei Bar Association
New Power Party
Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
Taiwan Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Taiwan Bar Association
Judicial Reform Foundation