The National Conference of Public Prosecutors has submitted 10 proposals to candidates for the Élysée to make the prosecution and criminal justice more efficient. Explanations on two key ideas, with the president and the vice-president of the association.
In a 13-page document presented to the press on January 6 and mailed to presidential candidates, the National Conference of Public Prosecutors (CNPR) advance “10 proposals for the future of criminal justice“. A subject that “must be among those debated in the elections“, estimates the prosecutor of Senlis (Oise) Jean-Baptiste Bladier, president of this association which brings together the majority of the prosecutors of the Republic.
The public prosecutor is above all the person who leads, in his district, public action in criminal law: receiving complaints, conducting investigations, opening the way to a trial and pronouncing requisitions (proposals of convictions) at the hearing. , in its role of defending the interests of society. Although a magistrate and therefore independent, he is appointed by decree in the Council of Ministers and locally implements the criminal policy defined by the government.
“Obsessed with efficiency” of their action and the “quality“of criminal justice (according to Amiens prosecutor Alexandre De Bosschère, vice-president of the association), CNPR prosecutors have listed 10 areas of intervention:
- That prosecutors be appointed by the Superior Council of the Judiciary, today simply consulted by the government. Since 2012, his opinion has always been followed, but the CNPR would like to set the practice in stone to put an end to suspicions of civil service, without calling into question their hybrid status.
- More resources.
- Simplify the criminal procedure code.
- More investigators and training for the judicial police.
- Tackling the causes of delinquency, in particular addictions.
- That the adjustments of sentences are no longer the principle but “a subsidiary”.
- Generalize enhanced support systems for victims of serious offences, possibly with the support of a project manager appointed by the prosecutor.
- Decriminalize certain less serious cases.
- A more effective digital transformation, with decision support tools, training, and a reorganization of the IT support service, which is currently divided between two departments of the ministry and is too difficult or slow to reach.
- Human and technical means of communication in each prosecutor’s office.
The result of six months of work, these proposals were validated at a general meeting.by all member prosecutors“, underlines that of Amiens. “We could have produced report pages, but we tried to give concrete and credible leads that affect people and it will be up to the candidates to position themselves if they wish.“, explains Alexandre De Bosschère.
Proposal number 3 undoubtedly makes other justice corporations smile. The “simplification of the investigation and the criminal procedure“proposed by prosecutors could be summarized”less intervention by judges“.
The prosecution would first like to have more total control of the investigation until the day of the hearing. “We believe that a whole section of criminal law could experience more effective treatment by letting the prosecutors act without systematically having to seek the judge’s agreement, even if it could be requested a posteriori in the event of a challenge by the defendant. cause“, says Jean-Baptiste Bladier.
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For example, in a preliminary investigation, the prosecutor could request placement in pre-trial detention at the end of police custody, without having to open a judicial investigation led by an investigating judge. The request would remain processed by a third magistrate, the judge of freedoms and detention, and an immediate appearance would remain possible immediately afterwards.
Sometimes quite complex investigations are carried out which are often judged in an immediate appearance. Sometimes, we would like to be able to do a few more acts of investigation, an expertise, hear witnesses… things that we don’t necessarily have time to do while in police custody. However, since we do not want the person to be released with the risk of recidivism, or to ask an examining magistrate to intervene because we are starting a very long procedure: we rush a little, we end up with a prosecution a little sloppy.
Alexandre De Bosschère, public prosecutor of Amiens
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There are already “delayed appearance” and “guilty plea” procedures, which allow a defendant to be placed in pre-trial detention without instruction. But they are subject to conditions which reduce their scope of application, compared to immediate appearance. Alexandre De Bosschere notes that “in most neighboring countries, the prosecutor can conduct investigations and ask a judge to detain during the investigation: all that is required is more flexibility to work more efficiently.“
Still without calling a judge, CNPR prosecutors are demanding the possibility of punishing the least serious offenses themselves. Whoever prosecutes – and represents the Ministry of Justice – would then also be the one who judges. Unthinkable? “I can’t understand why this seems revolutionary“, sweeps Jean-Baptiste Bladier.
“Why does the prefect, representative of the Executive in the department therefore anything but independent, have powers of sanction that I do not have, while my status gives me greater independence?“, asks the prosecutor of Senlis. He also thinks, in this period of covid, of the administrative sanctions for the companies which do not respect the three days of teleworking: “The Labor Inspectorate is not independent, it depends on the Ministry of Labour, so why is this a problem for us?“
Alexandre De Bosschère agrees: “The prefect can suspend a driving license for up to 6 months, close an establishment for non-compliance with noise rules, pronounce vehicle seizures… and the prosecutor cannot pronounce a citizenship internship measure without the intervention of a judge: what meaning can that have?“
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The president of the CNPR dreams of new prerogatives, to make “more flexible, simpler, faster.“He assures that he does not want to subtract too many cases from the judge’s assessment, only targeting those”which do not necessarily require imprisonment, petty traffic offences, petty degradation, petty violence, daily delinquency“.
Some of these petty offenses could also, if they are not sanctioned directly by the prosecutor, not go through him at all. After the simplification of the criminal procedure, this is another flagship proposal of the CNPR, number 8: to reduce “the perimeter of the penal field“to the facts which”most seriously undermine the social pact“.
Here again, Jean-Baptiste Bladier refers to the powers of the administration. But this time, not to claim as much: to leave the hand to her and to the civil judge. “We have a whole section in which we are asking for our intervention when administrative authorities have already been mobilizedobserves the president of the CNPR. We can stop making duplicates, it can be done at least as well elsewhere.“
CNPR prosecutors cite press law, non-aggravated defamation and insult: “Couldn’t this be settled by a civil lawsuit?“, asks Alexandre De Bosschère. They also think of technical disputes related to town planning, the environment, the coordination of transport or trade: “Do we need a ticket for non-compliance with pay periods to come before the criminal judge?“, still wonders the vice-president of the CNPR. They would also like to let the administration itself sanction first-time road offenders, an area that “weighs heavy“in their diary.
Its vice-president regrets “a very strong penalization of social relations, double the number of criminal cases compared to the European average per inhabitant“. According to the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), in 2018, French prosecutors individually had 11.6 times more cases to deal with than the average prosecutor in the member countries of the Council of Europe. For good reason: France had 3 prosecutors (3.6 on January 1, 2021) per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 11.2 on average.
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