redonner au citoyen confiance en la justice
It is therefore in front of a large audience of high authorities, in the first row included the prefect Fabienne Buccio, that took place, this Friday, January 13, the return of the Bordeaux Court of Appeal.
For this return under the paneling of the prestigious Montesquieu room, facing a larger audience, the first president of the court Isabelle Gorce and the attorney general Pierre-Yves Couilleau have innovated by inviting the academic Jean Danet, honorary lawyer and member of the Council superior of the magistracy (CSM).
Frankly, the latter recalled that the Estates General of Justice which were held in 2022 gave rise to a “terrible and unvarnished” observation. Thus confirming the obligation of an in-depth reform of the institution. According to the academic, this can only be done in a fairly long time, with experimental phases and additional means.
Additional means
On this subject, the Keeper of the Seals Éric Dupond-Moretti has already announced a budget increased to 11 billion euros in 2027 with annual increases of 8%, but also a recruitment of 10,000 personnel, including 1,500 magistrates and 1,500 clerks for judicial services alone.
“The sites are open,” said Attorney General Pierre-Yves Couillaud. “We expect a lot from these additional resources […] and, in this perspective, I would like to recall the obvious: it would be vain to believe that abundant but disembodied money could alone restore our fellow citizens’ confidence in justice. »
“Justice remains one of the essential cogs in the proper functioning of institutions and society in general”
It is true that justice is often accused of all evils, in particular for its slowness and its distance from the litigant. Sometimes referred to as “above ground”, justice nevertheless remains one of the essential cogs in the proper functioning of institutions and of society in general. “The processing time for cases is an essential marker of the quality of justice,” said the first president, Isabelle Gorce. “It will be one of the major challenges in improving the service provided to litigants. »
A county criminal court
At the Bordeaux Court of Appeal, this processing time “is struggling to improve and remains very problematic overall” with hearing times that can reach more than two years in family matters and labor law in particular.
This contrasts with the courts of first instance where decisions, in the “very sensitive” family sector, are rendered in a much more reasonable time.
“Re-establishing confidence through the obsession with better management of our response time and the effectiveness of our decisions, such is one of the foundations of the creation of departmental criminal courts whose hearings will begin from the month of May in Bordeaux”, announces Pierre-Yves Couilleau.
The departmental criminal court will judge adults accused of a crime punishable by twenty years of maximum imprisonment by setting a six-month period between the decision to dismiss and the actual comparison for detainees.
The reform is well underway, we now only have to wait for concrete effects.