Criminal justice and criminal proceedings

ANGLAIS

Criminal justice and criminal proceedings

To prosecute: take someone to a criminal court

To sue someone: take someone to a civil court

Only the state can prosecute you. The state prosecutes those charged with a crime.

Ex: we have a contract; I deliver but you do not pay the price; I will sue you, because it is a civil matter, it is not an offence.

Ex: I try to kill someone; I will be prosecuted.

• In French « un crime » = a serious infraction
• In English « a crime » is a general term, it is the same as an infraction/an offence (if you

speed, steal, or kill it is a crime)

Example:

• Imagine that someone is in Montpellier at a café.
• On the table is their phone, suddenly a man passes by and grabs the phone and runs.
• What to do? They must call the police, who will come.
• Now, the victim will tell them the story, and give them a description of the offender.

(An offender = someone who commits an offence).

• The police will start patrolling Montpellier; they will find someone who matches the description
• They will stop them (not arrest)
• They will then frisk him (to make sure he is not carrying a weapon)
• Then they will search him; he will have to remove everything from his pockets. In this scenario in his back pocket, they will find the victim’s phone.
• They will tell him that they knew the phone was stolen.
• The suspect will say they found it on the floor and was bringing it to lost and found. But for the police he is still a suspect.
• The police will ask for identification; then handcuff (menotter) him in order to take him to the police station.
• Now he is under arrest.
• At that stage his legal status, while under the supervision of the police at the police station is that he is in custody (garde à vue)
• He is kept at the police station against his will ; he will be locked up in a cell, and will be questioned/interviewed

However, being in custody gives him many rights that the police will have to inform him of at the

beginning of the custody :

• Right to remain silent
• Right to be assisted by a Lawyer on call / on duty : paid by the state (legal aid)
• Right to inform a relative that u r in custody 
• Right to be examined by a doctor 
• Right to be assisted by a translator 
• Right to call ur embassy or consulate 
• Right to be inform of the charges 

Difference between the assistance of lawyers in the UK/US and in France:

• In France, during the questioning, the lawyer must remain silent, they will only have the right to speak at the end.
• Whereas in the UK or US the lawyer can stop the interview at any time to speak with their client in private.

• In France, the lawyer does not have any access to the police case, (the lawyer will be informed of the charges, but will not know what evidence the police have).
• In the UK/US the lawyer must be informed of the evidence that the police have on their client.

The first thing: the police are going to investigate:

• Try to collect evidence against the suspect:

• Testimony / witnesses
• Try to find the CCTV footage (= video)
• Scientifical evidence (DNA; fingerprints)
• Confession // deny

2 possibilities:

• They investigate but don’t find anything, and the suspect deny. The case of the police isn’t very strong. Maybe the prosecutor will drop the case, the charges
• They find evidence against him. The case is strong, the prosecutor accuse/charge him. The suspect can be charged (formal accusal), with the offence of theft.

At the end of the custody the prosecutor will ask for him to appear before the next possible court -> then he will have the choice to be tried immediately or he can refuse so he has time to prepare his defence.

• Police will give him a document: a summons (citation à comparaitre) -> describe the charges and give him the date of court: it the mean time he is free

• If the entire situation had been more violent (as in, when he stole the phone, he had been violent), it

may not be a good idea to let the suspect go, between custody and the trial.

So he will be released on bail (released before the trial provided that he complies to a number of

conditions determined by the court).

If they are a foreigner there is the risk that they could go back to their home country, so a possible bail condition could be that they are not to leave the French territory, which could be prevented by taking their passport; but that may not be sufficient ; so they can inform the authorities to not issue another passport. They will also probably ask him to pay a certain amount of money.

Surrendering the passport and paying the bail are called pre-release bail conditions.

Post-release bail conditions:

• Report to the police-station
• Not to get in touch w/ the victim/witnesses
• Not to go to specific parts of town
• Sometimes -> curfew (=couvre-feu)
• Will be subject to electronic monitoring/tagging

In other cases (if dangerous) they can be in pre-trial detention/on remand (in prison).

The person will not be prosecuted if there is a high chance they will be acquitted, the prosecutor will drop the case (otherwise it is a waste of time and money).

In the UK, just like in France there are 3 categories:

In France:

• Contraventions ; dealt by le Tribunal de police
• Délits ; dealt by le Tribunal correctionnel
• Crimes ; dealt by la Cour d’assise

In the UK it is the same, but there are only 2 types of courts that deal with the offences:

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