Trouille, Helen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0383-8920 (2004) Conclusion: From the twentieth century into the twenty-first: should we still fear the juge in the new legal framework? In: Feuillée-Kendall, Pascale and Trouille, Helen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0383-8920, (eds.) Justice on Trial: the French juge in question. Peter Lang, pp. 249-274

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Abstract

The chapters in this volume discuss the fear the public may have of the juge. In this concluding chapter, I will examine some major changes in legislation at the end of the twentieth century and at the very beginning of the twenty-first century, setting them in their context. With the drafting of the loi sur la présomption d’innocence, Elisabeth Guigou, formerly minister for European Affairs and subsequently Justice Minister in Lionel Jospin’s socialist government, set about bringing certain aspects of French criminal procedure into line with the expectations of the European Convention on Human Rights, notably the right of appeal against rulings of the cour d’assises, the sometimes very lengthy delays in bringing cases to court (and consequently stays in prison for remand prisoners), and the creation of a juge des libertés et de la détention. This law appeared to create a climate in which the defendant could expect his rights to be respected, and to be presumed innocent in the first instance. However, following the 2002 presidential election campaign dominated by the issue of the fear of crime, the next Justice Minister, Dominique Perben, introduced a more repressive package of measures: a serious prison-building campaign, non-professional juges de proximité to tackle delinquency, and weighty measures against major road traffic offences, including prison sentences for offenders. It seems the juge and the politicians attempting to guarantee their re-election should still be feared in the twenty-first century.

Item Type:	Book Section
Status:	Published
Subjects:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General) K Law > K Law (General)
School/Department:	York Business School
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/5203

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