Taiwan's lay judge system is under review, with legal experts pushing to widen its reach — a modest positive for public trust in the courts, but a sign the current setup is still incomplete.

• A forum held at the legislature by Taiwan's citizen judge association gathered more than 20 experts to discuss how to improve the system.
• Association head Yuan Tien-ming said the goal is to balance public participation, professional judging, and court efficiency.
• Experts want the system gradually widened to cover major corruption, big financial crime, and serious public safety cases.
• A key gap: ordinary citizens only sit on first-trial panels, so appeals judged solely by career judges can produce different verdicts and sentences.
• Backers argue letting people inside the courtroom is the fastest way to build trust in the justice system.

Outlook: Expect pressure to extend citizen judges into appeal courts and into corruption and financial crime cases, though any change would need new legislation.