Laure-Alice Bouvier is a lawyer at the Paris Bar and a doctor of law.
To discover
PODCAST - Listen to the club Le Club Le Figaro Idées with Eugénie Bastié
On February 12, the attacker of an octogenarian doctor was sentenced for aggravated violence to a 6-month prison sentence suspended for three years and 4,500 euros in damages.
When we learn of the violence of the events, which continued into the street, with the attacker chasing a victim covered in blood and with a swollen face, it is difficult to imagine such a light sanction for an act of such cruelty.
But, beyond any emotional reaction, we may be surprised that the exact measure of such an act is not taken.
It is in fact the expression of a questioning, voluntary or not, of institutions and structuring functions of the State (teachers, police officers, judges, mayors, firefighters, doctors) and participates in a deconstruction which if it continued would be fatal for the balance of society.
This is why such aggression is not only an illustration of the trivialization of violence which is taking hold in France, it represents a much more formidable threat and raises in the case mentioned the question of maintaining a sole judge faced with the magnitude of an act which contributes to such a phenomenon.
Because you should know that the referral of the attacker to the criminal court was done not before a collegial panel, but before a single judge.
A choice which places on a single magistrate the responsibility for a decision whose aim is to punish, educate and prevent recidivism.
The distinction between judgment by a single judge and collegiate judgment, therefore by several judges, constitutes a fundamental aspect of the French judicial system.
This duality is notably framed by a law of December 29, 1972 which is based on precise criteria aimed at optimizing the administration of justice.
It is thus planned that certain cases will be judged by a single magistrate, a much simpler configuration, aimed at disputes considered less complex or less serious.
The logic of collegiality has the advantage that it allows expertise to be pooled and perspectives to be compared, thus promoting a balanced and thoughtful decision.
Laure-Alice Bouvier
In theory the advantages are obvious: in a context of great suffering in the justice system, of court congestion and judges overwhelmed with cases, the absence of collegiality obviously allows greater speed in the processing of these cases, an advantage not negligible.
All in all, a desired “more calibrated” justice.
Furthermore, judging
seemingly
less complex cases by a single judge makes it possible to optimize costs, reserving collegial training for cases which would require a plurality of points of view.
The logic of collegiality therefore dictates that we favor a plurality of opinions for matters requiring a more in-depth examination.
It has the advantage that it allows expertise to be pooled and perspectives to be compared, thus promoting a balanced and thoughtful decision.
It should be added that in criminal matters the list of offenses covered by single-judge treatment has been considerably extended since the 1972 law. This list includes, for example, traffic offenses as well as theft or minor violence.
A text, we understand, out of step with the evolution of current society.
However, this is not a trivial question especially since collegiality undeniably strengthens the legitimacy and quality of the decisions rendered, by relying on dialogue and in-depth deliberation between the judges and avoids a decision rendered immediately without deliberation, called “on the bench”, as the single judge has the possibility of doing.
This is where the problem lies because we have understood that the consequences are serious and particularly serious.
It is not only the image of justice that is tarnished in the eyes of public opinion but even more, careful observation shows that it is the effectiveness of the response to be given to an act which is in fact in a process of disorganization of the society which is in question.
It is a safe bet that such expeditious handling of this type of case risks encouraging acts of the same type.