2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Empirical Study about the Impact of Crime Victim Participation in Criminal Trials on Sentencing Outcome

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21830028
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Fundamental law
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	SAEKI Masahiko The University of Tokyo, 大学院・法学政治学研究科, 助教 (10547813)
Research Collaborator	WATAMURA Eiichiro 東京大学, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 博士課程
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2010
Keywords	犯罪被害者 / 裁判員制度 / 量刑 / 模擬裁判研究
Research Abstract	This study attempts to verify the impact of Victim Statement of Opinion or Victim Participation System on sentencing outcome. Two experiments were conducted using a psychological methodology. The first experiment confirmed that the information regarding the victim and his bereaved family members influences sentencing outcomes. However, whether that information is submitted by the prosecutor or the bereaved family member makes no difference to sentencing outcomes. The second experiment indicated that the type of emotion displayed by the bereaved family member also has a discernible influence on the participants' sentencing decisions.