After Lyhanna’s deaththe Keeper of the Seals, Gerald Darmaninacknowledged that greater than 70,000 complaints regarding sexual violence towards kids are ready to be processed by the varied public prosecutors in France. In 2024, all causes mixed, there are greater than 4.7 million complaints and reports that these same prosecutors received in line with figures from the Ministry of Justice. The identical yr, prosecutors additionally dealt with 4.2 million prison circumstances. And all this for various prosecutors stabilized at round 2,200 magistrates. With an equal judicial system, France is lagging behind.
Of the 4.2 million prison circumstances dealt with by public prosecutors in 2024, greater than three million didn’t give rise to prosecutions, particularly, for “lack of elucidation”, “absence of offense” and even “inadequate fees”. However there are additionally greater than 239,000 circumstances which weren’t processed as a result of that they had merely not been recorded by the general public prosecutor’s places of work. To clarify this, the Nationwide Convention of Public Prosecutors (CNPR) factors to, amongst different issues, the dearth of workers.
The worst ratio of prosecutors to residents in Europe
At all times in line with figures from the Ministry of JusticeFrance had, in 2023, 2,196 prosecutors, or a ratio of three.18 public prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants. And the ratio falls to 2.3 if we solely rely the prosecutors of the primary occasion courts, probably the most requested. The variety of prosecutors has elevated barely since 2019 (+90 magistrates in complete) whereas the variety of circumstances obtained and recorded is stabilizing after an explosion in 2020.
Is France due to this fact much less effectively off than different European international locations? To understand this, it’s a must to take a look at the statistical analyzes that the European Commission for the efficiency of justice (CEPEJ). Based on this establishment, the median variety of prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants within the 48 member international locations of the Council of Europe is 11.2 in 2022. We are able to already see that, with its ratio of three.18, France is due to this fact largely within the pink.
In Norway, the ratio is nineteen.5 prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants. With such workers, every public prosecutor solely receives 284 circumstances per yr when their French counterparts obtain greater than 2,000. This additionally explains why the Norwegians solely file 51% of circumstances when the quantity reaches 75% in France. In Latvia, it’s much more telling with greater than 24 prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants, every receiving 24 circumstances per yr with a clearance price of 13%. In Germany, for instance, the ratio is 7.7 prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants, it’s 7.5 in Belgium and 5.6 in Spain.
Figures to place into perspective
In Italy, the ratio is closest to that of France, with 3.8 prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants. We due to this fact discover basically the identical figures: 1,200 circumstances per prosecutor and a clearance price of 69%. On paper, these two international locations are the worst off of the 48 members of the Council of Europe by way of the variety of prosecutors.
Our file on the Lyhanna affair
Nonetheless, this knowledge doesn’t clarify every part. Bulgaria is the second nation with the best ratio of prosecutors to inhabitants (24 per 100,000) and the price range of its judicial system is “one of many highest in Europe” in line with the CEPEJ. The general public prosecutor’s places of work aren’t overloaded with fewer than 63 circumstances obtained per Justice of the Peace. Nonetheless, the speed of case clearance in Bulgaria explodes to 82% and the capability of the Bulgarian judicial system to resolve the circumstances introduced earlier than it’s much less good than in France.
