An alarm bell. Correctional judges, children, substitutes … 3,000 magistrates and a hundred clerks denounced the deterioration of their working conditions and the lack of time to process cases, Tuesday, November 23, in an article published in The world.
“We no longer want a justice which does not listen, which reasons only in figures, which times and counts everything”, they write, scolding a “justice that mistreats the litigants, but also those who work for its operation”. In this text, they regret a “managerial vision of [leur] job” and underline the lack of time to process files.
The magistrates cite in particular overcrowded hearings, sick leaves which are on the increase among judicial staff, hearings closed without follow-up or the obligation to deal with divorce cases. “in fifteen minutes” without being able to give the floor to the parties. This situation generates a “discrepancy between our desire to deliver quality justice and the reality of our daily lives”, placing them in front of a “untenable dilemma: to judge quickly but badly, or to judge well but within unacceptable deadlines”.
“The magistrates can no longer take it. Justice is running out of steam and can no longer fulfill its missions”, wrote the Union Syndicale des Magistrates Tuesday in a press release relaying this forum. This call comes as the States General of Justice opened on October 18. The Independent Commission chaired by Jean-Marc Sauvé is expected to submit reform proposals by February 2022.
In response to the rostrum, the Director of Judicial Services in charge of human resources, the judiciary, Paul Huber, said to himself “particularly aware that the two trying years which have just followed one another, after a social movement and the health crisis, have only exacerbated the tensions present in the judicial world for many years”. He confirms that in order to respond to the problems raised by the magistrates, “it is necessary to increase” the current numbers “in their ranks.
Paul Huber adds in his letter that “the Keeper of the Seals [Eric Dupond-Moretti] wish discuss in the coming days with a delegation of magistrates and clerks who have signed this rostrum “. It will also bring together all the conferences and professional associations.sional, according to the representative of the ministry.