Since the saiban-in (lay judge) system started in 2009, psychiatric experts are required in court to explain the forensic psychiatric examination of the accused in a way that is easy to understand for laypeople. The court requests psychiatric experts to elucidate in plain words the mechanism of psychiatric symptom's influences on criminal behavior. As a result, they have come to disregard the technical explanations of mental disorders, psychiatric diagnosis, and preparation of psychiatric examination reports. The court has also been trying to restrict the expert testimony to limit the influence on the saiban-in's judgement on criminal responsibility. The psychiatrists are asked to refrain from mentioning the extent the disorder affected the behavior. In this situation, it is strongly concerned that the significance of psychiatric expertise is being diminished. As a consequence, the judicial decision on criminal liability may be misled due to inadequate understanding of mental disorders.
 In this paper, the author examined in detail the current issues concerning psychiatric evaluation under the saiban―in system and proposed future direction for psychiatrists to improve the present situation.
 Author's abstract