Jury system to be introduced in 10 cities

The jury system will be introduced to 50 courts in 10 cities under a pilot program recently initiated by the Supreme People's Court.

The country's top legislature approved the program on Friday at the bimonthly meeting of the standing committee of the National People's Congress.

Citizens who are aged 28 or above and have a high school education will be qualified to be chosen as the jurors, the proposal said, adding that this criteria will not apply to highly respected people in some villages and remote areas.

The program will be launched in the lowest courts and intermediate people's courts in Beijing, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Guangxi, Chongqing and Shaanxi.

The jury mechanism was introduced into China's judicial system in 1950s and was outlined in a couple of laws including the law on court organization and civil procedure law. However, specific provisions concerning how the jury works are not written into any law on books.

Under the new rules rolled out in the proposal, jurors will be randomly selected among qualified local people rather than being chosen previously based on personal applications and recommendations from a variety of departments and organizations. A pool of the jurors will be established and the number of the jurors in each pilot city will be three to five times than the number of local judges.

The jury system will only apply to first trial cases concerning great public interests or serious criminal cases involving sentences more than 10 years and life sentence, said the proposal. "Jurors can only give their opinions on the evidence and facts in a case and they will not be allowed to comment on the application of laws."

Dong Zhongyuan, a member of the standing committee of the NPC, suggested that a committee or a department should be set up by judicial organs to supervise and evaluate jurors' work, and a training program should be introduce to the jury system to ensure that people know dos and don'ts in ruling.

"If the jurors are found to be incapable in trials they should not remain in the pool," Dong said.

He also said litigants in some cases should be given the rights to choose between the jury and judge system.

Li Lu, a deputy to the NPC, said the jurors should be selected for cases based on their background. "For instance, in commercial cases, it is better to choose people who are familiar with basic business rules," he said.

According to the proposal, no less than three jurors will be selected to form a panel with a judge and it is citizens duty to participate in the jury system.

Supreme People's Court said it will deliver an interim report to the NPC on the progress of the pilot program.