Role of Prosecutor in Juvenile Justice

2000年，日本修改了《少年法》，家庭法庭允许检察官参加少年法庭的审理。本研究的主要目的是找出检察官在少年司法中的角色。在修改之前，他们根本不能参加听证会。赞成或反对这一修订的争论一直很激烈。有些人害怕青少年听证会接近刑事法庭审判。其他一些人认为，在适当的事实调查方面，对手制度可能比非对手制度更好。在新法律实施后，我们有必要对日本少年司法中检察官在证据方面的实际作用进行研究。首先，我们采访了大约10位真正经历过公诉人参与的未成年人听证案件的法律专业人士。他们大多是私人律师，少数法官，少年法庭缓刑官。我们的研究发现，检察官的作用不同，这一事实更多地取决于法院法官的自由裁量权。在大多数案件中，检察官不像刑事法庭审判那样是“当事人”，而是扮演支持少年法庭法官的角色，以便得出适当的事实结论。然而，当未成年人否认提交家事法庭的事实时，法官倾向于采取中立立场，而不是采取非对抗制，并要求检察官像对抗制一样工作。第二，我们在美国、英国、法国和德国就公诉人在少年司法中的作用进行了研究。我们采访了公诉人、少年法院法官、私人律师和一些学者。我们还观看了听证会和审判，并参观了这些国家的机构。我们发现检察官在少年司法中的角色受到检察官在刑事司法中的角色的强烈影响。因此，在美国和英国，他们通常作为一个政党工作。相反，在德国和法国的青少年法官中，他们并没有作为一个政党发挥“侵略性作用”。然而，这些国家的检察官承认少年案件与成人案件之间存在差异。他们说，他们也想帮助青少年变得有建设性，恢复和重新融入社会。少

Japanese Juvenile Law was revised in 2000 by which public prosecutors were allowed by Family Court to participate in juvenile court hearing. Main purpose of our research is to find the role of prosecutor in juvenile justice. Before the revision, they could not attend the hearing at all. There have been hot arguments pro or con on the revision. Some have been afraid of the juvenile hearing coming close to criminal court trial. Some others argued the adversary system may be better than non-adversary system for appropriate fact-finding. After the new law was put in effect, we need to conduct research about the actual role of the prosecutors in Japanese juvenile justice on evidence. First, we had interviewed with about 10 legal professions who actually experienced the juvenile hearing cases in which a public prosecutor participated. They were mostly private attorneys, a few judges, juvenile court probation officers. Our research found the fact that the role of prosecutors was different, de … More pending upon the discretion of the court judges. In majority cases, the prosecutor was not a "party" like in criminal court trial and played the role of supporting juvenile court judges in order to reach appropriate fact findings. However, when the juvenile denied the fact for which one was referred to the Family Court, judges preferred neutral position to ones in non-adversary system and asked the public prosecutor to work like in adversary system. Second, we conducted research in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany with regard to the role of public prosecutors in juvenile justice. We interviewed public prosecutors, juvenile court judges and private attorneys and some scholars. We also observed the hearings and trials, and visited institutions in these countries. We found the fact that the role of public prosecutors in juvenile justice strongly influenced by the role of public prosecutors in criminal justice. Therefore, in the United State and United Kingdom, they usually work as a party. In contrary, in German and French juvenile justices they did not play "aggressive role" as a party. However, public prosecutors in these countries acknowledged the differences between juvenile cases and adult cases. They said they also want to help the juveniles to become constructive, rehabilitate and to be reintegrated in society. Less