Deputies and senators meeting in a joint committee (CMP) Thursday, February 4 reached an agreement on the reform of the criminal justice of minors, which mainly aims to speed up judgments but is criticized on the left for its dimension considered too "
repressive
".
Read also: Criminal liability, trial delays, pre-trial detention: what changes the juvenile justice reform
“When it comes
to minors, punishment without education is just a repeat machine.
This reform will reduce the time needed to bring judicial intervention closer to the act,
”said Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti in a press release.
The CMP notably endorsed the postponement of the entry into force of the reform from March 31 to September 30, as voted by the Senate.
Deputies and senators on the other hand reconsidered the decision of the High Assembly to entrust to a judge of the children, and not to the judge of freedoms and detention, the decision to place a minor in provisional detention.
Likewise, they returned to the police court the management of the least serious contraventions (1st and 4th class) that the senators had entrusted to the juvenile judge.
“
This represents 5,000 cases per year.
When we want to lighten the work of justice, it was not the time to put such a large volume of cases back into the circuit
”, underlined one of the co-rapporteurs of the CMP, the deputy LREM of Tarn Jean Terlier.
The bill consists of the ratification of an ordinance.
The code of criminal justice for minors that it organizes is intended to replace the 1945 ordinance devoted to juvenile delinquency, the reform of which is a sea serpent. It sets up a two-stage procedure, with the objective reduce 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.
The code also provides for a presumption of irresponsibility before 13 years.
The compromise reached in CMP will be submitted to the National Assembly for approval on February 15, before being definitively adopted by Parliament via a Senate vote.
