2,000 cases closed without further action due to lack of resources
For several weeks, magistrates and lawyers have taken turns to denounce the chaotic situation of the Toulouse judicial court. Lack of judges, sick leave, pending cases and sharply rising delinquency… Justice professionals are demanding more resources.
“The situation is not glorious. Our justice system suffers from a real structural staffing problem in France. It’s worse in Toulouse”. The president of the Toulouse judicial court is disillusioned. Accompanied by the public prosecutor, Xavier Pavageau wanted to recall this February 2, 2023, the catastrophic state of the judicial system in the pink city.
The morale of the court staff is not going strong. All services are impacted but some suffer more than others. In the children’s court, of the 8 judges in office, 2 are on sick leave for professional exhaustion. At the same time, cases are piling up. Since the Covid pandemic, cases of children at risk in their families have increased sharply. 4,303 files are in progress and 537 families are followed by each of the judges. The service dedicated to victims is in great difficulty. Hearings for the calculation and payment of compensation have been suspended for six months.
A sentence enforcement judge is also absent without being replaced. And the situation is all the more worrying as judicial activity continues to increase with rising delinquency and criminality. On account 19,580 used to people in 2022 while there were less than 10,000 in 2019.
In 2022, more than 100,000 minutes arrived at the Toulouse prosecutor’s office. Cases that the court can no longer absorb. For example, the territory under the jurisdiction of the judicial court of Toulouse has two times fewer judges per million inhabitants than that of Marseille. In Toulouse, there are 75 judges while in Marseille they are 133.
The consequences for litigants are catastrophic.
Everyday complaints cannot be dealt with. The delays are too long. We have to make choices.
Samuel Vuelta Simon, public prosecutor of Toulouse
The number makes you dizzy: 55,000 procedures are awaiting processing. This accumulation is not new. But to deal with all these outstanding files, the public prosecutor decided to destock. “2000 small cases have been closed without follow-up without even being investigated. These are too old facts, where the author has not been identified, such as hit and run offenses on traffic accidents or burglaries.
For many years, Toulouse and its agglomeration have experienced strong demographic growth. The city exceeds one million inhabitants. Judicial activity is therefore logically on the increase.
We are paying for the historical delay in the image of a peaceful provincial town. Unlike other large French cities in full development, such as Nantes or Bordeaux, the workforce of Toulouse justice did not follow.
Xavier Pavageau, President of the Toulouse Court of Justice
To prevent the boat from sinking, there is an emergency. The president of the judicial court and the public prosecutor ask for the rapid reinforcement of human resources. “To reach a satisfactory level, the Toulouse court has assessed its needs between 30 and 45 additional judges at the seat and 7 additional magistrates at the prosecution.”
In early January, the Minister of Justice unveiled his “action plan” for justice, including the creation of 10,000 jobs, including 1,500 magistrates, over the next four years. Eric Dupond-Moretti thus files a programming bill in the spring to “sanctuarize” these promises of employment. In Toulouse, the court hopes to be one of the very first beneficiaries.