Mismatched Perceptions Between Assessors and Others: An Empirical Examination of the People’s Assessor System in China

Abstract

Despite efforts to rejuvenate the people’s assessor system in recent years, it still suffers from a number of problems such as elitism in the selection of assessors and the lack of meaningful assessor participation and function. Past empirical studies in this field are still limited, and to date, none has compared assessors’ perceptions about the system with those of judges and other key participants. Based on survey and interview data conducted in Hunan province, this study adopts a mixed method approach to examine potential perception mismatches between assessors and other legal practitioners in the existing system. Findings suggest that there exist significant disjunctions between what assessors are capable of and desire to accomplish and what others believe. Often, Chinese judges and legal professionals have underestimated the potential values and contributions of the assessors. Such perception mismatches hinder the practice of the system, and have a real effect on assessor motivation and performance.