Pascale Vernay, the first president of the Grenoble Court of Appeal, began the press conference by explaining that she supported the magistrates who had demonstrated on December 15, everywhere in France to denounce a lack of means which induces justice too slow and too much pressure from the Chancellery.
Refocus the judge on his core business
“New laws are passed every year and this increases our workload accordingly.“explains Pascale Vernay who campaigns for the judge to refocus on his core business and for civil litigation, such as family matters, consumer credit cases or rental leases, to be handled by other people. “On could invent new professions in the judicial world, hire lawyers to entrust them with tasks that would relieve us, magistrates.” she explains while noting that French society is becoming more and more judicial. “It should _develop mediation, as is the case in Quebec_.“Currently within the jurisdiction of the Grenoble Court of Appeal, there are 27 prosecutor’s delegates, often former gendarmes or police officers who settle small disputes.
A budget of 16 million euros
The Court’s budget, which has 19 jurisdictions in Isère, Drôme and Hautes Alpes, where 188 magistrates, 461 civil servants and 172 non-permanent agents, is nearly 16 million euros, of which 8 million are used to finance legal costs, because as the attorney general, Jacques Dallest, says: “Justice is priceless but it has a cost.”
Justice had to adapt to the pandemic by developing teleworking. 471 ultraportables were deployed within the jurisdiction of the Court.
Stable or even declining statistics
As for the statistics, the number of homicides is down slightly, 16 in 2021 compared to 21 in 2020, including three spousal crimes.
Mountain accidents killed 42 people in 2021 compared to 40 in 2020.”21 people killed themselves on skis, 18 of them while practicing ski touring” emphasizes Jacques Dallest who recommends, again and again, caution in the mountains..
On the roads, the number of deaths fell from 46 in 2020 to 41 in 2021. The Attorney General concluded this press conference by explaining that he had set two objectives for 2022: the fight against violence against elected officials and the tracking of fake health passes. “We must remind our fellow citizens that this offense is punishable by 5 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 thousand euros. Not to mention that this kind of traffic can endanger the life of the person who buys it by pretending that they are vaccinated”
A supervision project with a psychologist
Pascale Vernay, she clarified to finish that she had led in 2021 a experimentation with voluntary magistrates so that they work with a psychologist. “I sometimes have feedback from litigants telling me that the judge did not listen to them, that he was cold. And when I talk about it with the magistrate in question, he had the impression of having been attentive. Proof that he does not necessarily realize the image he sends back. Hence this very interesting work which will be continued this year. We have obtained credits from the Chancellery for this.”