“It's up to you to judge”, a shocking experience for 23,000 French people each year

Text by: Siegfried Forster

How to do justice? “Here we are plunged into the heart of human comedy. The filmmaker Brigitte Chevet has gathered fascinating experiences from popular jurors in the assize courts in France. Each year, 23,000 French people are drawn by lot, called to judge rape, infanticide, murder, etc. "À vous de juder" is broadcast this Monday, February 17 at 11:30 pm on public television France 3.

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Once drawn, it is a civic duty to go there. Being appointed juror of an assize court in France opened their eyes to the justice of their country. For many, it is an enriching experience, for others, rather traumatic, like the ban on showing emotions during long sessions, being forced to wait for breaks to finally be able to cry. Their testimonies, filmed with surprising immediacy, filled with fright and fascination, allow us to understand the difficulty of arriving at an "intimate conviction" in relation to the guilt of an accused. The large shots of the camera establish a delicate proximity, immerse us in a subtle intimacy with the jurors, making palpable a painful decision process, torn between reality, probability and doubt, between emotion and reason. And tomorrow, it may be up to us to judge. Interview.

RFI : It's up to you to judge is an important documentary on the judicial reality in a country like France where the feeling of injustice seems to double. Have you found an answer to the ultimate question: how to deliver justice on behalf of the people ?

Brigitte Chevet : I do not pretend to resolve this very important and very broad question. My film answers the question: what is a democratic experience? When you take the time to participate, it can only be positive. Even if delivering justice is necessarily imperfect - it can be very frustrating, violent -, but justice done by ordinary people is still important. Justice is done in the name of the French people. Judging someone in assize court is truly the ultimate democratic experience. This is where the ballot weighs the most.

How do you become a jury member ?

We are drawn by lot. It is a draw from the electoral lists. From the moment you are over 23 years old, that you are not deprived of your civil rights, that you are registered on the electoral lists, you can be drawn by lot. Neither should you be a police officer in the magistrate or know the people who are being tried or involved in the case. But if you meet the criteria, you have a one in three hundred chance of receiving a letter from the Department of Justice in your life. Each year, 23,000 French people are drawn to become jury jurors. Some clearly don't want to go. But, in France, we have no choice, it is the draw.

What does this provoke in the jury of assizes to face the look of a man or a woman accused of being a murderer, a murder, a rapist…

Anyone can push the door of the Courthouses. It's open, free, everyone can go there, attend trials, but we don't go. And we don't really know how it goes. I discovered a ritual. I discovered this experience of judging the other. A very memorable experience. The assize court, these are not funny, very serious things, robberies, rapes, infanticides, murders ... There, we are plunged into the heart of human comedy. It is not easy. It is shocking to many people. One lady says that she was forced to watch the rapes filmed by the pedophile raping 12-year-old children in front of the camera. It took months to get rid of the nightmares it created for her. This may be an extreme case, but there is an experience which is of the order of shock.

Does being a juror change the life of a man or a woman ?

Overall, I have the impression that it is. This is something that marks them enormously. It shook them tremendously. Some were fascinated by the place of justice and they continue to go to trials, to take an interest in the legal world. Others remain quite critical of the role of jurors, feeling rather incompetent. However, the majority were still happy with the experience.

Brigitte Chevet, the director of the documentary "À vous de juger". © Siegfried Forster / RFI

After listening to the jurors, what is your judgment regarding the justice system ?

I find that it does not work so badly. Today, there is a reform in experimentation in France which aims to reduce the number of trials. In first instance, there would be half of the trials which would be judged without jury of assizes, compared to today. It is true, jurors, it costs a little more and it takes more time. And today, justice in France has problems of speed and means. The magistrates told me: if this reform takes place, it means a much faster, but also much more expeditious, meeting. Me, I think it is important to keep this popular justice, because it is a heritage of the French Revolution. Before, it was only the nobles who judged others. So it may be imperfect, but it is important, symbolically.

" Courts of assizes are a bit like the sewers of society that rise to the surface, " remarked one of the jurors in your film. What do judges learn from juries ?

For judges, this is an opportunity to refresh your gaze. They have both hands in the “sewers” ​​every day and confront the worst in society. To have new looks, I think it does them good. This allows them not to stay in too cold or automatic justice.

► It's up to you , a documentary by Brigitte Chevet, presented at Fipadoc 2020, is broadcast Monday February 17 at 11:30 p.m. on France 3.

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