THE FRENCH TEMPTATION

It was a strange time for Charles Clarke to express his preference for the French inquisitorial system of criminal justice over the English accusatorial model, as he did last week to a Commons select committee.

France has just undergone a gigantic miscarriage of justice, the Outreau affair, a direct consequence of the inquisitorial system. Even President Jacques Chirac, not usually known for rubbishing French institutions, called it an unprecedented judicial disaster. The debate in France is about the desirability of moving towards the English process.

In Outreau, near Boulogne, 13 local people were accused of sexually abusing children. By the time their innocence was established, one had committed suicide and the others had spent long periods in prison - some of them four years. Their lives were ruined. All this can be directly traced to the cornerstone of the inquisitorial system - the wide powers of the examining magistrate (juge d'instruction), which are difficult to appeal against and allow him to keep suspects in detention as he slowly makes up his mind whether or not charges are justified. These powers are often exercised by young and inexperienced judges; the one in Outreau was 29.

My case against the inquisitorial system is not based on one grotesque event. There have been many other, if less spectacular, judicial outrages in France. There are, of course, flaws in our system which frequently result in injustice, whether it is innocents being convicted or the guilty going free. If I were to adjudicate between the two systems on the criteria of efficiency and just results, I would probably call it a draw.

But the home secretary was talking mainly about trying terrorists, and was still smarting that parliament had not given the police 90 days in which to question suspects. The prospect of examining magistrates with extensive powers to keep suspects inside indefinitely, out of reach of lawyers or courts, must seem tempting. He should read about Outreau before considering going French. That fiasco could not have happened here.

More here. See my post of Feb 9th. for an earlier comment on the Outreau case.



(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)