These avenues had already been mentioned. This Monday, the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, detailed a series of measures to fight against domestic violence after the submission of a parliamentary report to the Chancellery. "We hope to be much more effective" in the face of "this violence that shames us" and is "everyone's business," said the Minister of Justice at a press briefing with Isabelle Rome, Minister Delegate for Equality between Women and Men, and the two authors of the report.
These measures, which will be the subject of decrees or bills in the coming months, had already been announced in March by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, as part of her plan for gender equality, the "great cause" of the five-year term. Among them, the creation of a "unit specialized in domestic violence" in each of the 164 French courts. They will all include a team coordinated by reference magistrates from the seat and the prosecutor's office, with adaptation to local specificities. A decree will be published on the subject "at the end of this summer," said Éric Dupond-Moretti.
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The government also wants to allow a judge to pronounce, in cases of "extreme urgency", a long-sought protection order within 24 hours. The time limits for these orders, authorizing the eviction of the abusive spouse or a ban on contact, had been reduced to six days in 2019 (previously an average of 45 days). This procedure, provisional, will have to be re-examined by a judge "within six days", said the Minister of Justice, adding that it would appear in a bill planned "in the autumn".
Regional differences
Éric Dupond-Moretti's announcements took place as part of the delivery of a parliamentary report on domestic violence. Their authors, Émilie Chandler (Renaissance MP for Val-d'Oise) and Dominique Vérien (Senator for Yonne, UDI), begin by noting the doubling of complaints since 2016 "in a context of freedom of speech and improvement of the conditions of reception of victims", as well as the "faster" judicial response (doubling of convictions before the criminal courts, + 218% of expulsion measures between 2017 and 2021), even if progress is not "at the same level" throughout the country.
In their 59 recommendations, they highlight the need to improve "coordination" between actors – shortcomings in the follow-up of violent and repeat spouses have been revealed in several femicides in recent years. Upstream of judicial treatment, it is necessary "a network of people trained at all levels of the chain" (doctors, social workers, civil servants ...) so as not to "miss out" situations of danger, said Isabelle Rome. The mandatory danger assessment grids are "far from being" systematically completed, note the parliamentarians, also suggesting to draw inspiration from Spain, a pioneer country in this area, and to assess "on the basis of an algorithmic calculation" the risk of taking action.
The Spanish model
The authors of the report also recommend the creation of a file containing information on perpetrators - on which the Chancellery and the Interior are already working - and better care for violent men (dedicated prevention campaigns, follow-up after prison to avoid recidivism, etc.).
Regarding children confronted with domestic violence, they propose to professionalize ad hoc administrators, who represent their interests, and to "allow the judge in certain extreme situations to deprive the violent parent" of his parental authority.
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The report also recommends further expanding the issuance of "serious danger telephones". Nearly 3500 are active (+ 471% since 2019) but they remain three times less attributed than in Spain. As for the "anti-rapprochement bracelets" (1000 assets), weighed down by technical problems, a new model adapted to the 5G network and with a more reliable battery will be deployed next month, promises the Chancellery.
The Ministry of the Interior recorded 207,743 victims of domestic violence in France in 2021, mostly women, an increase of 21% compared to 2020. 122 were killed by their spouses or ex-spouses that same year, according to the ministry. Forty women have already been killed since the beginning of the year, according to the associations. Figures that are not decreasing, despite the measures taken in particular since the Grenelle of 2019, notes the report aimed at "improving the judicial treatment of domestic violence", submitted to the two ministers.
