A Comparison of an Adversarial and an Inquisitorial Trial in South Korea: Judges vs. Juries.

The research is to compare the performance of South Korean judges and lay juries on legal decision-making by examining whether legal decisions made by a professional judge and a group of lay jurors differ significantly. Furthermore, the study also examines how the differences in the evidence presentation method, in an adversarial and an inquisitorial trial, influence the legal decisions produced by a professional judge and a group of jurors. Professional judges and mock jurors either watched a videotaped criminal trial or read a collection of evidence documents, dossiers and made legal decisions. The results indicated some differences in verdict patterns between judges and juries and there was a greater difference in final verdict patterns between judges and juries when the key evidence was introduced in dossiers. Implications to the current lay participation system in Korea are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]