Eric Dupond-Moretti, Minister of Justice, December 11, 2020 at the National Assembly.
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Jacques Witt / SIPA
The elected close to the goal.
The right-wing majority Senate adopted Wednesday evening at first reading, after the National Assembly, the reform of juvenile criminal justice, which mainly aims to speed up judgments, but is considered too "repressive" by the left.
Deputies and senators will try to agree on a common text in a joint committee, which seems achievable.
"The debates showed a convergence on the essential", noted the senator of the majority RDPI group En Marche Thani Mohamed Soilihi.
The Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti “took note” of the senators' desire to postpone the entry into force of the reform from March 31 to September 30.
According to LR rapporteur Agnès Canayer, it is a question of "giving it every chance to achieve its objective of reducing delinquency".
The bill passed by show of hands is the ratification of an ordinance.
A method unanimously criticized on the benches of the Senate.
Two-step procedure
The code of criminal justice for minors that it organizes is intended to replace the 1945 ordinance devoted to juvenile delinquency.
The centrist senator Dominique Vérien expects "an improvement for the child being tried but also for the victim".
It sets up a two-stage procedure, with the objective of reducing the use of pre-trial detention, which today concerns 80% of imprisoned minors.
A first hearing will have to rule on the guilt within three months (against 18 months currently on average).
A second hearing will have to be held within a period of between six and nine months, for the pronouncement of the sanction (sentence or educational measure).
In the meantime, the minor will be subjected to a period of "educational probation", which may include educational and security measures.
A "single hearing" will remain possible for minors already known to the courts.
Irresponsibility before 13 years
Against the advice of the government, the senators entrusted to a judge of children and not to the judge of freedoms and detention, the decision to place a minor in pre-trial detention.
Likewise, they entrusted the children's judge with the least serious contraventions, for which the police court was competent.
The code also provides for a presumption of irresponsibility before 13 years.
Regarding “discernment”, the Upper House agreed with the government's definition according to which the minor “understood and wanted his act” and “is able to understand the meaning of criminal procedure”.
The left voted against the text, the president of the Communist-majority CRCE group Eliane Assassi denouncing "a repressive drift", while the ecologist Esther Benbassa considered "the rapprochement of juvenile justice to that of adults problematic".
“A minor in conflict with the law must be seen above all as a child to be protected,” said Laurence Harribey (PS).
An amendment by Senator LR Valérie Boyer created a moment of tension in the evening.
It aimed to create "a contract of commitments" to "empower" families, with financial penalties.
It was ultimately not adopted.
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