2013/07/05
critical thinking keyword
We, Lisa and I, want to explain the critical thinking keyword, 'bias.'
Bias is a inclination that gives weight to one particular opinion. Inclination means a tendency to think or behave in a particular way. We sometimes judge an issue from our personal emotion without reasonable consideration.
Lay judges need to think crimes objectively to give right judgement. If they lack such a consideration, it influences defendant's sentence in big way.
Last year, a 42-year-old man was arrested for his elder sister's murder. He has Asperger Syndrome(a kind of autism) since he was little. However, he was said 20-year sentences, and this is 4 year longer than procecutor's sentence. Judges think that even if the defendant has mental illness, there is no assureance that he'll never commit crime, so it is safe for us to prison him as long as possible. However, this opinion is biased view that handicapped person tend to commit crime.
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You provided an excellent real-world example, Yuuna. I think you're right in exposing one of the biases of the judge.
He also showed bias because his stricter sentence shows that he believes that mentally handicapped people cannot be rehabilitated (i.e., can't change) and that they belong in prison rather than in some sort of facility for the mentally challenged.
In addition, the judge's reasoning seems to be faulty. You say that he "thinks that even if the defendant has mental a illness, there is no assureance that he'll never commit another crime," as a justification for the longer sentence. But, no matter if there is a mental disability or not, there's never a complete assurance that a person will not commit another crime.
i think this case is very interesting because i never thought about the person who have mental illness could commit crime over again. even in japan, many crimes who have mental illness, the judge decides to reduce their year in prison since they think the crimes who have mental illness do not have their control over their minds.
I agree with lay judge system because it is a good chance to listen to normal people's voice for judge. However, I know that there are some negative point of lay judge system as you introduced us, so I think this is very controversial issue.
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