Many countries around the globe rely on ordinary citizens, untrained in the law, to decide the guilt or innocence of their fellow citizens. Some countries use all-layperson juries, while others use mixed tribunals or mixed courts in which professional judges and lay citizens work together to decide a case. Still other countries use lay magistrates or lay judges working alone or on panels. This book provides a view of the different forms of lay participation and the ways in which they are evolving. It offers a comprehensive picture of how some countries have made recent and remarkable advances toward lay decision-making, while others have a long-standing form of lay participation that is well accepted in that country. Still other countries have faced challenges with lay participation and have opted for limiting the scope of lay legal decision-making or even abolishing it. The organization of this book illustrates that lay participation in a country is not fixed in stone; lay participation is being advanced, reinforced, or replaced in countries around the world. These shifting responses to lay participation suggest the prime importance of stepping back and taking a global perspective.

This chapter examines the rise of the Argentine jury. Although promised in the 1853 National Constitution, the jury did not come to Argentina until the provinces took the lead in the twenty-first century. Responding to public distrust in the legal system, scholars and reformers saw the jury as a way to bring transparency, efficiency, and democratization to a judicial system rooted in the inquisitorial tradition. The chapter looks at the various choices each province has made in designing its jury trials and the distinctive features of equal gender representation and an indigenous jury introduced in Argentina. Although the reformers who advocated juries faced opposition, they overcame resistance, and appellate courts have rejected challenges to the new jury systems. Moreover, early research reveals positive reactions from the jurors, judges, and attorneys who have participated in jury trials in Neuquén and the province of Buenos Aires, and new provinces have been joining the move to implement jury systems. Other countries in Latin America have expressed interest in Argentina’s jury activities. Further developments will bear watching.