LLyhanna affair triggered a significant debate in France on attainable dysfunctions of justice. And on monitoring the work of magistrates: are they sanctioned after they make errors, neglect information, in brief, after they lack skilled conscience?
To be clear about it, 20 Minutes contacted a number of sources near the Superior Council of the Magistracy, the physique which sanctions magistrates. And the reply is sure: dozens of sanctions have been imposed since 1958.
Information thrown within the trash
One of the well-known instances on this space is that of Outreauregarding acts of rape and incest on the finish of the Nineties. Following this scandal, the place varied judicial dysfunctions appeared, decide Fabrice Burgaud was sanctioned by the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM), which recognized in 2009 “negligence, clumsiness and lack of control” and in particular “failures of investigation”. He gave him a “reprimand with entry within the file”, the weakest of disciplinary sanctions, recognizing that a part of the wrongdoing was not linked to his providers.
Extra not too long ago, two instances are sometimes cited: the case of a Justice of the Peace who had thrown away information, and that of a vice-president of a judicial courtroom, guilty of having “seriously failed in his duty of care” for not having closed information, “regardless of alerts from his superiors”. He acquired a reprimand with entry within the file.
70 information involved, dozens of sanctions
In all, round 70 referrals to the CSM since 1958 have included the rationale for breach of “skilled conscience”, comparable to what we might name within the personal world “skilled insufficiency”, and 56 sanctions have been imposed in these instances. In line with a CSM knowledgeable, “the disciplinary process works”.
Be aware that a lot of the 228 sanctions, imposed or proposed because the Council listed them, relate to non-public misconduct, dedicated unrelated to the instances. In 2025, an investigating decide was, for instance, dismissed after being definitively convicted of rape, as was a courtroom of attraction advisor after an incestuous sexual assault.
Sinking boat
Judges may by no means be condemned for choices made. For this, there are basic avenues of attraction, akin to attraction or Cassation, explains the CSM web site. Nicolas Hervieu, professor affiliated with the Sciences Po Legislation Faculty, underlines the significance of getting a “stability between the mandatory private accountability of magistrates but additionally the requirement for independence of Justice”.
It’s also generally troublesome for individuals who management judges to tell apart between what issues the skilled inadequacy of a person and the deficiencies of a system lacking resources : France, for instance, has the worst ratio in Europe with 3.18 prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants. An knowledgeable in CSM referral procedures believes that referrals give rise to “thorough examination and sanctions, with out laxity”. However full: “It is as if you happen to put folks of superb will in a sinking boat and also you gave them a cup and requested them to bail. »
