Against an expeditious justice in France, bronca among the magistrates

The French Minister of Justice Éric Dupont-Moretti leaving the Council of Ministers on the steps of the Élysée Palace, October 27, 2021. AFP - LUDOVIC MARIN

Text by: Agnès Rougier

5 mins

After the suicide in August of Charlotte, a 29-year-old judge, who had warned about her first two years of " 

 " practice, the judiciary mobilized to publish, on November 23 in the newspaper

a call under the title " 

 ".

The group of 3,000 judges, substitutes and clerks, signatories of the appeal, is today joined by more than half of French prosecutors and judges.

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The appeal published in

denounces a reality that concerns the entire profession.

Constantly understaffed, magistrates are faced with a managerial logic that puts them in an untenable position: how to do your job well in conditions that do not allow it?

Judge badly, but quickly, or judge well, out of time: it is a contradictory, paradoxical injunction, from which they cannot come out on top.

Charlotte " 

 ", write the magistrates.

She told her colleagues about her suffering at work, because she worked almost every weekend, every night, but she couldn't.

After a first suicide attempt, the second got the better of her life.

And magistrates say today that it is not an isolated case:

 are legion, sick leaves are increasing.

Whatever the age and experience of the magistrates, they cannot take it any longer, and " 

 ”. 

Degraded working conditions, lower quality justice

The magistrates testify to it: in order not to waste time, the judges in the family cases are forced to process each file of divorce or separation in fifteen minutes.

They do not have time to give the couple the floor when each of the parties is assisted by a lawyer.

Local civilian judges must preside over hearings from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., without a break, to judge 50 cases.

And after keeping people who can no longer pay their rent or who are in over-indebtedness wait for hours, they have seven minutes to listen and appreciate their plight.

The children's judges admit that it is impossible for them to meet the families, there are too many cases.

As for correctional judges, the hearings are so busy that they must choose " 

 ”.

For all of them, unable to do their job properly, the situation has become untenable.

Few magistrates, a French exception

France suffers from a structural contradiction: it is one of the only countries in Europe where justice is freely accessible to citizens, but neither the number of magistrates, nor the budget allocated to justice, are up to the ambitions .

According to the latest

published in 2020, which assessed the efficiency of justice in 47 European countries (and Morocco, as an observer), France had 11 judges per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 21 on average in Europe and 24 in Germany.

With 3 prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants against 12 on average among our European neighbors, France also has the lowest figure in the entire European Union.

On the budget side, while on average, the countries of Europe devote a budget of 71.56 euros per year and per capita to justice, or 0.33% of GDP, France grants 63 euros per year and per capita to its judicial budget, i.e. 0.2% of GDP.

Reactions to the Ministry of Justice

The Minister of Justice Eric Dupont-Moretti, who met some of the signatories of the appeal this week, said he was " 

 " by the suffering expressed, while affirming that the

, launched last October by the Head of State, are precisely the occasion to raise the difficulties.

This public consultation via the

which will end in January 2022.

However, if France is far from devoting to justice what other European countries devote to it, the budgetary question, which is at the heart of the problem with the lack of staff, is not addressed in the Estates General.

No workshop was devoted to the question of means.

And knowing that the 2022 budget is already closed, the margin of response therefore seems more than limited.

The president of the

, Katia Dubreuil, told Le Monde that

".

Work with humanity

During the presentation of Cepej's 2020 report to the Council of Europe, its president Jasa Vrabec underlined the need to “

"

Working with humanity is precisely what the magistrates co-authors of the appeal, joined on December 1 by more than 6,500 people, including 5,005 magistrates out of 9,000, 1,063 clerks and 450 student magistrates, would like to put in place. practice.

But they can't do it anymore.

► To find out more:

♦ Read the

♦ Read also the CEPEJ Evaluation Report, “European judicial systems”

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