Burn out, sick leave: the Toulouse court in the era of “the acute chronic crisis”
Through David Saint-Sernin
Published on
An institution that is running out of steam, or even worse… A year after sounding the alarm bell, the court of Toulouseby the voices of the public prosecutor, Samuel Vuelta Simonand the president of the court, Xavier Pavageau, admitted, Thursday, February 2, 2023, that the Toulouse justice system is in the midst of an “acute chronic crisis”.
Lack of staff, burnout
Lack of staff, Burnout of certain employees, sick leave which is increasing: while the procedures before the courts are experiencing “an exponential increase”, according to the prosecutor, the means do not control.
“The number of cases has increased and we have the same staff as two or three years ago. There are 28 of us at the Public Prosecutor’s Office when there should be 35 of us. And of the 28 people who work for us, we have two who are retiring, two who are going on maternity leave, one on sick leave and two people who are weakened by the current pace that leads some people to work from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Faced with this observation, on the snapshot of the means, but the gap is so great between reality and the need that these means pass in glimpses “, Regrets the prosecutor of Toulouse, Samuel Vuelta Simon.
It would take 30 to 45 additional judges
For Xavier Pavageau, it would take 30 to 45 additional judges in the court of law to work “properly”…
The consequences are unfortunate within the institution:
“What is certain is that at the level of the magistrates develops syndromes of professional exhaustion, burn out, it is very clearly identified”, notes the president of the court. “For the staff, there is also a loss of meaning in their job. The people who worked in the court are engaged and the deterioration of the conditions in which they have to make decisions greatly intensifies them”.
“The machine can no longer digest the treatment”
They are no less unfortunate for those who have recourse to justice.
The court notes: “The number of completed civil cases has fallen sharply due to the chronic understaffing of the teams of magistrates and clerks, aggravated by heavy absences in certain departments. Thus, the fall in the number of cases handled by the center in charge of protection and proximity litigation can be observed. The court could not cope with the flow of new cases”.
“The delays are too long or, worse, this translates into non-response for the citizen. Today, you file a complaint, we try to treat it but there are times when the machine can no longer digest the treatment, ”laments Samuel Vuelta Simon.
2000 complaints filed without investigation
Currently, 48,000 procedures are awaiting processing. A staggering number when 2000 cases were dismissed in 2022 without even being investigated.
“2000 small cases have been dismissed without even being the subject of an investigation. These are facts that are too old, where the perpetrator has not been identified, such as hit and run offenses in traffic accidents or burglaries,” said the public prosecutor, who added:
Today, we deal effectively with the urgent, the serious facts with answers as soon as possible, on the other hand, all comers…
With the continued demographic increase in the Pink City, and without reinforcements in sufficient numbers, things are unlikely to improve in the short term.
A justice plan deployed
The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Morettiunveiled Thursday, January 5, 2023 his “action plan” from the Estates General of Justice, marked in particular by a new increase in the ministry’s budget to respond to the finding of “advanced dilapidation” of the institution.
At the end of the day, promises to hire 10,000 justice officials by 2027, including 1,500 magistrates.
Toulouse hopes to be among the well-successful cities to suffer from “a historic delay” for years.
Xavier Pavageau recalls the urgency:
Twenty or 30 years ago, Toulouse still had the profile of a peaceful provincial town but this is no longer the case, in particular due to the constant increase in its population and the increase in acts of violence. Toulouse must now be heard
.
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