Abstract
This study examines the relationships between personality, level of knowledge, cognitive factors, emotions, and behaviors (i.e., intentions and requests to act as a saiban-in ‘lay judge’) within two groups; one consisting of individuals with steady jobs and one of individuals without steady jobs. We surveyed 321 individuals aged between 20 and 70 years. The results reveal that the group without steady jobs tended to be more insecure and stressed and to make stronger requests about the lay judge system. In addition, while the group with steady jobs possessed considerable knowledge about this system, they tended to believe that it would bother their colleagues if they were to do jury service. In terms of the relationships between these factors, two processes were common for both groups; namely, emotional and cognitive decision-making. Further, the level of knowledge in the two groups was found to influence both these processes. This finding suggests that level of knowledge is one of the most important factors to increase individuals' awareness about participation and requests to participate as a lay judge.
