France's criminal legal system reform: written contribution

Fair Trials has submitted a written contribution to the French government regarding the reform of its criminal legal system.

The contribution highlights a number of issues including:

• The growing use of accelerated procedures with the aim of ‘simplifying the criminal procedure’;
• France’s also failure to respect basic procedural safeguards including the right to access a lawyer;
• France’s expansion of the use of the electronic bracelet has failed to address severe prison overcrowding; and
• The demands of civil society, especially of racialised groups, are not mentioned anywhere in the reform project.