NCJ Number
74277
Journal
Revue penitentiaire et de droit penal Volume: 104 Issue: 3 Dated: (July-September 1980) Pages: 361-416
Date Published
1980
Length
54 pages
Annotation
The nature of the crisis facing sentencing judges in France is analyzed in a report to the Fifth Colloquium of the Institute of Criminology of the University of Lille.
Abstract
In the 1960's the role of the sentencing judge first began to develop, while in the early 1970's each session of parliament seemed to increase the powers of the sentencing judge. The increased powers appear to have been intended as a means of reducing a prison population which had become too large to handle rather than a real attempt to individualize sentences. In response to the erosion of penalties, parliament passed a law in 1978 limiting the powers of the sentencing judge. Stiffer sentences became mandatory for violent crimes, the power of parole for offenders sentenced to more than 3 years imprisonment was transferred from the sentencing judge alone to a sentencing commission, and the decisions of sentencing judges were declared administrative measures subject to modification by public agencies. The changes are the results of the failure of the public and of convicted offenders to understand the sense of individual sentences, the tendency of the press to spread the image of the sentencing judge who is soft on criminals, and the refusal of social workers to admit that they have collaborated in the judges' repressive decisions. To improve the effectiveness of their role, sentencing judges must propose anticipated results for the measure imposed and encourage development of methods to assist the probationer in an open environment, through the installation of a probation officer system similar to that in Great Britain. Sentencing judges should not be given unlimited power, budgetary positions for sentencing judges should be created to assure continuity of function, and sentencing judges should be allowed to develop their skills in criminology and social sciences.