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Li-Chuan Lee, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, TaiwanAbstract
Taiwan’s Lay Judge System, launched in January 2023, marks a significant milestone for public judicial integration in Asia. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study analyzes 128 criminal judgments from 2023 to 2026. Drawing on Weber’s legal rationality and social cognition theories, it evaluates the operational effectiveness of non-professional citizens in adjudication. The findings reveal that while the system enhances public engagement, the verdicts strongly exhibit “penal populism.” Driven by media-constructed “risk society” fears, this populist stance prioritizes retributive sanctions over rehabilitation, tending toward heavier sentencing rather than maintaining offense-to-penalty proportionality. To prevent moral intuition from eclipsing professional legal logic, this study argues that civic literacy must encompass “epistemic responsibility”—the capacity to evaluate evidence independently. Furthermore, to safeguard deliberative proceedings against populist influence, the research recommends incorporating Peace Education principles into pre-trial instructions. This would strengthen cognitive bias awareness and emotional regulation, ultimately ensuring criminal justice proceedings remain objective, inclusive, and aligned with rehabilitative ideals.
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Conference: ACSS2026Stream: Politics
This paper is part of the ACSS2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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