NCJ Number
200844
Journal
International Review of Penal Law Volume: 72 Issue: 1-2 Dated: 2001 Pages: 559-577
Date Published
2001
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article describes the Cour d’Assises in France.
Abstract
The Cour d’Assises is the only court that has lay participation in France. The Cour d'Assises does not sit full-time and is not a permanent court. It is a mixed lay assessor court composed of three professional judges and nine jurors drawn by lots from the electoral lists. Juvenile Cour d’Assises judge young people if they are charged with crimes allegedly committed between the age of 16 and the legal age of majority, which is 18 in France. The terms of Court, called sessions, are periodically held for the trial of a certain list of crimes and related offenses. Once a session is over the Cour d’Assises splits up and the judges and lay assessors never sit together again in a criminal trial. There are two types of sessions: ordinary ones and additional ones. There are four sessions per year. The President of the Cour d’Assises must be chosen from the bench of the Court of Appeal. Lay assessors and professional magistrates alike have the duty to seek the truth and ensure the equal application of the law. Lay assessors have the right to put questions to the defendant and to witnesses after formal authorization by the President. Proceedings before the Cour d’Assises are oral. Professional judges and lay assessors deliberate and vote together on the questions of guilt and sentence. The President prepares the question sheet, which is the document upon which the decision of acquittal or conviction is based. Lay assessors and professional magistrates vote on every question separately. Vote on sentence takes place immediately after the guilt verdict. Modifications have been proposed in the bill on the presumption of innocence issue. These modifications include recommendations strengthening the rights of the defendant; reforming pretrial detention; limiting the length of proceedings; and granting greater protection from the media. The French tend to consider that non-legally trained persons are just as able as professional judges to decide questions of fact and guilt because they occupy a neutral position. There is no recommendation for the reform of the Cour d’Assises before the French Parliament. 13 footnotes, 11 references