ABSTRACT
In the preceding chapter we saw the centrality of lay judges to the Cuban legal order. All court cases in Cuba are adjudicated by mixed panels of lay and professional judges. Lay judges are not intended to replace legal professionals, as sometimes happens when there is a shortage of trained jurists or when jurists do not want to be judges because of the low pay or risk of injury during war (cf. McDonald and Zatz, 1992). Nor do they clamor for advanced technical training in law as a means of establishing their credentials (cf. Provine, 1986). Their purpose is to supplement the technical skills professionals possess with a humanistic, popular perspective. They also bring knowledge of the legal system back to their families, neighbors, and coworkers. Through their actions in the courtroom and their daily interactions with professional judges, lay judges are integrally involved in the ideological and practical production and reproduction of legality.
