Department/College/UnitSocial Sciences Division

TitleProfessor of Sociology and Legal Studies
President, Asian Law and Society Association (2018-19)

AffiliationFaculty

Other UCSC Campus AffiliationLegal Studies
Critical Race and Ethnic Studies
East Asian Studies
Community Studies Program
Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas

Web Site2021-2022
2022
OPRAC
Lay

Primary Office LocationRachel Carson College Academic Building
337

Office HoursNot available Fall 2022

Mail StopRachel Carson College Faculty Services

Biography, Education and Training

Ph.D., Sociology, University of California, Riverside

M.A., Sociology, University of California, Riverside

B.A., Sociology, California State University Fullerton

Metallurgical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Miyagi, Japan

Hiroshi Fukurai is professor of Sociology and Legal Studies and the President of the Asian Law and Society Association (ALSA, 2018-2019).  He won the Chancellor's Achievement Award for Diversity in 2014 and the UCSC Service Recognition Award in 2015 and 2016. He was also nominated for Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012 and selected as the Favorite Faculty by Stevenson College graduating students in 2013.

His expertise includes citizen participation in justice systems, international law and global justice, race and inequality, East Asian law and politics, and democratic theories. Professor Fukurai also teaches advanced quantitative methods and survey and field research. His research intersects with other substantive areas such as indigenous justice, earth jurisprudence, and tensions and struggles between the nation and the state.

He has more than 100 publications including scholarly articles, law reviews, op-ed pieces, magazine articles, and books. He was voted into a Law and Society Association (LSA) Board of Trustee (2010-2013), served on a LSA editorial board of the Law and Society Review, helped co-organize LSA's East Asian Law and Society Collaborative Research NetWork (CRN). He is an inaugural member of the Asian Law and Society Association (ALSA) and serves on the editorial board of its journal, Asian Journal of Law & Society (Cambridge U. Press).

Research Interests

Citizen participation in justice systems, Original Nation Approaches to Inter-National Law (ONAIL), race and inequality, East Asian law and politics, military and justice, environmental justice, indigenous knowledge, and advanced quantitative methods

Awards, Honors and Grants

Affiliation

• 2023, Affiliated Scholar, Center for East Asian Legal Studies, UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings).

Awards/Honors

• 2015 & 2016 Service Recognition Award: Selected by the Student Volunteer Center, UCSC.
• 2014. Chancellor's Achievement Award for Diversity: Selected by the Chancellor’s Office, Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Staff Human Resources, UCSC.
• 2013. Favorite Faculty: Selected by Stevenson College Graduating Students, UCSC.
• 2012. Nomination for Excellence in Teaching Award: Selected by the Committee on Teaching (COT), UCSC.

Grants

• 2015-2016. Co-Principal Investigator: UC Multi-campus Research Programs and Initiatives (RPI), “UC Consortium on Social Science and Law,” $298,341.
• 2009-2011. Principal Investigator: Toyota Foundation, “Preference of Trials Over Reluctant Concession: Lay Adjudication of Military Crimes in Okinawa, Japan,” $53,443.
• 2007-2008. Principal Investigator: UC MEXUS Program, “Jury Trials in Mexico: Comparative Analysis of Popular Legal Participation in Mexico and the U.S,” $15,000.
• 2006-2007. Principal Investigator: Social Science Research Council, Abe Fellowship, “Japan's Introduction of Lay Adjudication in Judicial Decision-Making,” $69,388.
• 2006-2007. Principal Investigator: Pacific Rim Research Program, UC Office of President, “Is Mexico Ready for a Jury Trial?” $16,500.

Selected Presentations

Public Lecture or Forum Participation

• 2015. “Deconstructing Ferguson: A Panel Discussion on Racial Profiling, The Justice System & Community Solutions,” participated as a panelist at College Ten, UCSC.
• 2014. “The Role of Law and Lawyers for Disaster Victims: A UC Hastings and Waseda Symposium on the Legal Aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Disaster,” participated as a discussant, UC Hastings College of the Law.
• 2014. “Civil Jury Trials in Okinawa and Remedial Policies for Fukushima Nuclear Victims,” presented at the Research on Jury Trial Meeting, Kokugakuin University, Tokyo, Japan.
• 2014. “People’s Inquisitorial Panel vs. Imperial Hegemony: Japan’s Prosecution Review Commissions & China’s People’s Supervisors,” and “Juries and Mixed Tribunals Across the Globe: New Developments, Common Challenges, and Future Directions,” presented at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Antigua Universidad, Onati, Spain.
• 2014.“Genetic Basis for Alcoholism: Native Americans, Irish & Aboriginals in Australia,” presented at “Genomics and Philosophy of Race” Conference at UCSC.
• 2013. “How to Become a Critical Scholar,” presented at The Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) Law School, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China.
• 2013. “Global World and Academics: Insights from American Universities,” presented at Osaka University’s D-Learning Series at Osaka University San Francisco Office, CA.

Papers Presented at Professional Meetings

• 2015. “Civil Jury Trials in Okinawa, Japan, and Their Resurrection in Seeking Corporate and Governmental Accountabilities in the Post-Fukushima Disaster Era,” presented at the Law & Society Association Conference in Seattle.
• 2014. “People’s Grand Jury Panels v. Corporate Goliath: Effectiveness of People’s Supervisors System in China,” presented at the Law & Society Association Conference in Minneapolis, MN.
• 2013. “Is Uncle Sam Watching Your Dikasteria? Socio-Legal Significance of U.S. Monitoring of Judicial Transformation in East Asia,” presented at The Third East Asian Law & Society Conference, KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China.
• 2013. “Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and Atomic Cover-Up: CIA & Psychological Warfare Strategies Behind Japan's Nuclear Programs,” presented at the Law & Society Association Conference in Boston.
• 2012. “Japan's Prominent Lay Adjudication Trials: Appealing Acquittal Verdicts & People's Rights to Try,” presented at the Untouchables, Law & Society Association Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Selected Publications

Books  

• 2022. Prosecution Review Commissions: Could It Change Japan's Criminal Justice System? (Kensatsu Shinsakai: Nihon no Keiji shiho o Kaeru") (Iwanami Shinsho) (with David Johnson & Mari Hirayama)  
• 2021. Original Nation Approaches to Inter-National Law: The Quest for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Nature in the Age of Anthropocene, Palgrave MacMillan (with Richard Krooth, pp.387)
• 2020. The Introduction of Civil Jury Trials Will Transform Japan: Lessons from Experiences of Civil Jury Trials in Okinawa (Minji Baishin Saiban ga Nihon o Kaeru: Okinawa ni Minji Baishin Saiban ga atta Jidaikarano Kosatsu), Nihon Hyoron-Sha (Osamu Niikura, Satoru Shinomiya & Takayuki Ii, 2020).
• 2015. Japan and Civil Jury Trials: The Convergence of Forces. Co-Authored with M. Wilson and T. Maruta. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• 2015. East Asia’s Renewed Respect for the Rule of Law in the 21st Century: The Future of Legal and Judicial Landscape in East Asia. Co-Authored with S. Miyazawa, W. Ji, K. Chan, and M. Vanhullebursch. Brill Academic Publishers.
• 2015. Nuclear Tsunami: Japanese Government and American Role in Fukushima Disaster. Co-authored with R. Krooth, and M. Edelman. Lexington Books.
• 2003. Race in the Jury Box: Affirmative Action in Jury Selection. Co-authored with R. Krooth. State University of New York (SUNY) Press.
• 2001. Anatomy of McMratin Child Sexual Molestation Case. University of America Press.
• 1993. Race and the Jury: Racial Disenfranchisement and the Search for Justice. Plenum Press.
• 1991. Common Destiny: Japan and the United States in the Global Age. McFarland & Company, Inc.

Journal Articles

• 2024. "Japan's Open Government Advocacy, the Efficacy of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Public Sector Whistleblowers, and the Public's Right to Know in Japan, the U.S. and Beyond," 25 Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal 65-102.
• 2023. "Fourth World Nations vs. The States' 'Nation-Destroying' Projects from 1946 to 2020: Post-WWII Wars, Armed Conflicts, and Indigenous Military Resistance," 23 Fourth World Journal 33-49.
• 2022. "The 'Vaccine Gencide' of Indigenous Nations and Peoples: The Intellectual Property (IP) Regime, 'Vaccine Apartheid" and 'Vaccine Untouchable,'" 21 Fourth World Journal, 53-68. 
• 2022. "Nations' Land Rights vs. Corporate Exploitation," 21 Fourth World Journal 1-20 (with Rudoulph Ryser, Muhmmad Al-Hashimi, Amelia Marchand, Sabina Singh, Melissa Farley, Deborah Rogers, Irene Delfanti & Aline Castaneda).
• 2022. “The Prevention of the Sixth Mass Extinction: Socio-Legal Responses to Mitigate the Anthropogenic Crises in Asia and Beyond,” 9 Asian Journal of Law and Society 177-186.
• 2020. “President’s Farewell Message: The Anthropocene, Earth Jurisprudence, and the Rights of Nature,” 7 Asian Journal of Law and Society 177-186.
• 2020. “Reflections on the TEPCO Trial: Prosecution and Acquittal After Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown,” 18 The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 1 (with David Johnson & Mari Hirayama).
• 2020. “Lay Judge and Victim Participation in Japan: Japan’s Saiban’in Trial, the Prosecution Review Commission (PRC), and the Public Prosecution of White-Collar Crimes,” 1 Hastings Journal of Crime and Punishment  395-438.
• 2020. “Lay Participation in the Criminal Trials of Japan: A Decade of Activity and Its Socio-Political Consequences,” in Juries, Lay Judges, and Mixed Courts: A Global Perspective, with Dimitri Vanoverbeke (eds., Valerie Hans, et. al., Cambridge University Press.
• 2020. “The U.S. Supreme Court Decision in “Francis A. Keeble v. United States” and the Necessity for the Gender-Diverse and Nationally-Bifurcated Jury: Recuperatores in Rome, Jury de Medietate Linguae in England and the U.S., and El Jurado Indigena in Argentina, in El juicio por jurados en la jurisprudencia nacional e internacional, edited by Andres Harfuch.
• 2020. “The State Constitution v. the National Constitution: Original Nations’ “Sovereignty-Building” Projects in Asia, North America and Beyond,” 7 Asian Journal of Law and Society 39-60.
• 2020. “The Decoupling of the Nation and the State: Constitutionalizing Transnational Nationhood, Cross-Border Connectivity, Diaspora, and “National” Identity-Affiliation in Asia and Beyond,” Asian Journal of Law and Society 1-4.
• 2019. “Kazakhstan’s Jury Experiment and Beyond: Lessons from Emergent Systems of Lay Participation,” 36 Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law 367.
• 2019. “Original Nation Approaches to ‘Inter-National’ Law (ONAIL): Decoupling of the Nation and the State and the Search for New Legal Order,” 26 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 199 (2019)
• 2018.  “Fourth World Approaches to International Law (FWAIL) and Asia’s Indigenous Struggles and Quests for Recognition Under International Law,” 5 Asian Journal of Law and Society, 221 (2018)
• 2018.  “The History of Japanese Racism, Japanese American Redress and the Dangers Associated with Government Regulation of Hate Speech,” 45 Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly,  533 (2018, with Alice Yang)
• 2014. “People’s Grand Jury Panels and the State’s Inquisitorial Institutions: Prosecution review Commissions in Japan and People’s Supervisors in China.” Fordham International Law Journal (with Zhuoyu Wang.)
• 2014.  Proposal to Establish the Federal Civil Grand Jury System in America: Effective Civic Oversight of Federal Agencies and Government Personnel, Journal of Civil and Legal Sciences, 3: 1-6, 2014 (with Zhuoyu Wang)
• 2014.  Okinawa’s Citizen Judge Panels vs. U.S. Military Hegemony: Wikileaks’ Secret U.S. Cable Document on the Lay Adjudication of American Soldier Criminal Cases in Japan’s Saiban-in Trials, 4 International Journal of Okinawan Studies, 2 (2014)
• 2013. “A Step in the Right Direction for Japan's Judicial Reform: Impact of the Justice System Reform Council Recommendations on Criminal Justice and Citizen Participation in Criminal, Civil, and Administrative Litigation.” Hastings International and Comparative Law Review.
• 2012. “Seeing is Believing: The Impact of Jury Service on Attitudes Toward Legal Institutions and the Implications for International Jury Reform.” Court Review. Co-authored with J. Gastil, K. Anderson, and M. Nolan.
• 2012. “The Future of Lay Adjudication in Korea and Japan.” Yonsei Law Journal. Co-authored with V. Hans.
• 2012. “Introduction: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disasters and the Future of Nuclear Energy Programs in Japan and East Asia.” Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal.

Chapters in Books

• 2023. "Procedural Rights and Criminal Procedure,” in the Oxford Handbook of Constitutional Law in Asia, edited by David Law, et al.,  (forthcoming)
• 2022. "La necesidad de un jurado bifurcado en diversidad de general y de nacionalidad: recuperatores en Roma, jurado medietate linguae in Inglaterra y Estados Unidos y el jurado indigena en Argentina," DPyC, Revista de Derecho Penal y Criminologia, 125-134 (with Andres Harfuch)
• 2019. “Lay Participation in the Criminal Trials of Japan: A Decade of Activity and Its Socio-Political Consequences,” in Juries, Lay Judges, and Mixed Courts: A Global Perspective, with Dimitri Vanoverbeke (forthcoming)
• 2017.  “ Global Juries: A Plan for Research,” in the Psychology of Juries, edited by Margaret Bull Kovera (pp.131-157, with Valerie Hans, Sanja Kutnjack Ivokovich and Jaihyum Park).
• 2015. “Global Juries: A Plan for Research,” in The Psychology of Juries: Current Knowledge and Research for the Future (Forthcoming). Co-authored with V. Hans, S. Ivkovic, and J. Park.
• 2013. “The Rebirth of Japan’s Petit Quasi-Jury and Grand Jury Systems: Cross-National Analysis of Legal Consciousness and Lay Participatory Experience in Japan and the U.S.,” in the Japanese Legal System: Case, Codes, and Commentary.
• 2012. “Disaster Memories and Other Thoughts on the Fukushima Nuclear Reactors, the Military Industrial Complex, the Ainu, and the National Sovereignty,” in My Postwar Life: An Era of Transition.
• 2012. “Lay Prosecution of U.S. Military Crimes in Japan by Prosecutorial Review Commissions and the Saiban-in Trial,” in Japanese Legal System: An Era of Transition.

Selected Recordings

Hiroshi Fukurai's Fall 2020 Welcome