Grand jury and prosecutors` citizen committee

Jury is categorized into grand jury and the petit jury. The grand jury determines whether to indict a suspect or not, while the petit jury makes guilty and not-guilty verdict. The jury system was created in Britain, and spread to countries that used to be British colonies, and today the system developed better in the U.S. than any other countries. The grand jury disappeared from Britain long time ago, and it only remains in the U.S. As violent riots have occurred again after the grand jury acquitted Darren Wilson, the White policeman who shot to death unarmed Black teenage boy Michael Brown in Ferguson in the State of Missouri.

The grand jury is not called as such because it is more important than the petit jury. Unlike the petit jury that makes decision based on unanimity, the grand jury makes decision based on a majority vote, and hence has more jurors than the petit jury. The grand jury panel for the Brown case was composed of 12 jurors including nine Whites and three Blacks. Just considering the composition of the jury, one may as well be suspicious that racial prejudice could have influenced the decision, but it is inappropriate to argue that the jury itself was unfair, because the jurors were randomly selected from the voters list. If prosecutors decided on acquittal over the Brown case, a more violent riot could have happened. The riot, albeit violent, was limited in magnitude because it was a decision made by the grand jury.

Korea does not have the grand jury system. However, if controversy is expected due to prosecutors’ unilateral decision on whether to indict a suspect or not, the court asks opinion to the citizens’ committee that is comprised of around 10 people. Prosecutors recently accepted recommendation by the citizens’ committee to suspend indictment of Kim Soo-chang, former chief of the Jeju Public Prosecutors’ Office who was caught after exposure to high school girls while committing sexual behaviors on the street, under the condition that he would receive treatment. Critics say that the decision was made by the prosecution to give favor to a former prosecutor, but criticism is not as intense as otherwise, because it was decided in a fashion that prosecutors accepted recommendation by the citizens’ committee.

Jury reinforces democratic nature to the judicial procedure. Korean court introduced the trial system of civil participation in 2008, and the citizens’ committee system in 2010. Whether it is jury under the trial system of civil participation or the citizens’ committee, decision by them only gives rise to the effect of recommendation, and hence these bodies are not comparable to jury and the grand jury. The citizens’ committee can be launched only at the request of prosecutors. However, since court and prosecutors inevitably feel burden if they do not accept a ruling by the committee, the committee system is effectively moving in the direction of the petit jury and the grand jury.