The Minister of Justice announced Thursday 60 measures to reform justice in order to make it closer to litigants and faster. One of them is based on the simplification of criminal procedure.
Halve the duration of legal proceedings. This is the objective set by Éric Dupond-Moretti with his reform of the institution which aims to bring justice closer to citizens and to make it faster. Divide this time by two, both in civil proceedings, by developing alternative solutions such as conciliation, but also to shorten criminal proceedings.
Brandishing a code of criminal procedure, the Keeper of the Seals announced an “unprecedented challenge”, namely the rewriting of these 3,000 pages which govern criminal procedure for crimes and misdemeanors, and which have “undergone multiple revisions, in point of becoming unreadable even to the most experienced practitioners”. An overhaul “at constant law” which remains to be specified.
“100% of criminal lawyers agree that the code of criminal procedure has become an indigestible thing, of crazy sophistication”, estimates with BFMTV.com Jean-Baptiste Bladier, member of the National Conference of Prosecutors of the Republic (CNPR).
A scientific committee to evaluate this rewriting
Assuring that this overhaul “will not affect the main principles”, the Minister of Justice announced that a scientific committee to monitor the work has already been set up. “People in the field must participate, investigating judges in the field, prosecutors in the field and think about involving the investigators”, warns Marion Cackel, president of the French Association of Investigating Magistrates (AFMI).
In the shorter term, the Keeper of the Seals has already announced a modification of the search regime, authorizing them at night in common law criminal matters. Until then, night searches were only possible in terrorism cases. The Paris Bar Association said in a press release, “vigilant of the threats that certain simplification provisions would pose to the exercise of the rights of the defense”.
Another point of tension in the profession, the favored use of delayed appearances to “avoid unnecessary openings of judicial information”. If their opening is mandatory in criminal matters, for misdemeanors, the public prosecutor’s office may, at the end of its investigation, either refer the person to a court, or appoint an investigating judge, to continue the investigation or to ensure that measures are taken. coercive measures that only a judge can pronounce.
“The delayed appearance makes it possible to obtain a criminal response within a reasonable time while ensuring the fullness of the investigations”, assures Jean-Baptiste Bladier, while the CNPR carried this measure during the Estates General of Justice.
Concretely, when almost all the acts of investigation will be carried out, currently the parquet floor must open a judicial investigation, allowing the implementation of coercive measures with regard to the person in question. With this modification, the prosecution will be able to decide on a deferred appearance and thus keep control of the procedure for four months.
“We must not think about management measures before revising the system”
Until then, this procedure was only possible pending the return of expert reports or requisitions. It should be extended to other acts in order to promote its use. A judge of freedoms and detention will decide on coercive measures such as placement in pre-trial detention.
“While we manage the most serious, the most sensitive files, with a significant emotional charge, we are criticized for being ineffective, deplores Marion Cackel.
“This measure will allow a magistrate who is not independent to pursue an investigation when we have a person under coercive measures, this poses a problem on the principle of the exercise of the rights of the defense. This also raises the question if we would not move towards the eventual abolition of the examining magistrate”, adds the president of the AFMI.
A budget of 11 billion euros has been announced for justice in 2027 with the ambition of “sanctuarizing” the promises to hire 10,000 justice officials by 2027, including 1,500 magistrates.
“There is something absent in my humble opinion in this variation of the measures, it is the strengthening of the independence of justice and the status of the prosecution service which has not been mentioned, there we have the impression of a reform manager who must arrive, but we must put things in the right order and not think about management measures before the revision of the system”, concludes Laurent Desgouis, national secretary of the Syndicat de la magistrature.
