This chapter argues that contemporary debates about the constitution and expansion of mixed courts in Norway reveal a tension in attitudes toward lay participation in the legal system. On the one hand, lawyers and laypersons in Norway evince confidence that professional legal actors can effectively collaborate with jurors to reach verdicts. On the other hand, both laypersons and attorneys worry that when it comes to the prosecution of some crimes – particularly sex crimes – laypersons cannot be relied upon to do justice. After offering an overview of Norway’s shifting jury system, the chapter argues that judicial interventions in the jury system have contributed to its gradual loss of legitimacy. Drawing on empirical research, I argue that critiques of rape prosecutions have both amplified and sharpened the stakes of critiques of lay participation more broadly, though – at least for the moment – mixed courts of lay and professional judges are perceived to remedy the shortcomings of all-layperson juries.

Ten years have passed since the lay judge or Saiban’in system was introduced in Japan in 2009. Not only did this have a significant impact on the way the criminal court operates, but it also represented an important step in raising the legal consciousness of citizens regarding state affairs. This chapter has three objectives. First, we present a brief history of the varied systems of lay participation adopted in Japan and examine the sociopolitical context in which the most recent system of Saiban’in trial was introduced. Second, we analyze the functioning of the lay judge system in its first decade of operation. Finally, we examine the sociopolitical consequences of the lay judge system in relation to: (a) Saiban’in trials of foreign military personnel stationed in Okinawa; (b) the contribution of the Former Lay Judge Network to calls for the abolition of the death penalty; and (c) the role of former Saiban’in in the 2016 implementation of recording and videotaping of interrogations. We conclude by examining the future of the lay participation system in Japan.