In a circular signed on Tuesday September 20 and sent this Wednesday morning to all the attorneys general and prosecutors in the country, which franceinfo was able to consult, the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti sets his criminal policy priorities for the next two years. Drug trafficking, environmental damage, domestic violence or even the fight against immigration networks, franceinfo takes stock.
In this circular, Éric Dupond-Moretti first wishes a “more protective criminal justice, pivotal in the fight against everyday crime”. The Minister speaks in particular of the case “attacks that target the police, especially when they refuse to comply”, which impose a “Warning” particular. The Minister also calls on the prosecution services to be “attentive to the policies conducted against urban rodeos”. According to him, the repression of these rodeos “Impose swift sanctions”.
Regarding drug trafficking, Éric Dupond-Moretti explains that “recourse to the tort fixed fine” must be “encouraged”. It also calls for a better fight against trafficking “in building halls or on public roads”, who “detrimentally impact the republican pact”.
Later in this criminal policy circular, the Keeper of the Seals calls for a “greater attention” serious harm to persons, in particular committed in the family sphere. “The family home must be set up as a protective sanctuary in which the slightest violence cannot be accepted”, writes Éric Dupond-Moretti, who calls for a deepening of “the detection of situations of violence, the support and protection of victims as well as the faster and firmer care of the perpetrators, within the framework of the emergency sectors”.
On sexual violence and particularly rape, Éric Dupond-Moretti calls for “strong vigilance in the handling of open procedures”. According to him, “These facts justify the implementation of targeted actions to identify victims and the deployment of dedicated investigative resources”.
After a summer of drought and intense heat wave, marked by extremely violent fires in France, the minister says he is looking for “increased mobilization on the judicial treatment of environmental damage”. “You will be particularly attentive to ensuring that an educational, restorative and exemplary response is provided to offenses likely to lead to irreversible damage to biodiversity”, he writes.
On immigration, the Minister calls for “a reinforcement” the fight against illegal immigration networks. “When the purpose of this trafficking is the exploitation of migrants, the opening of investigations on the count of trafficking in human beings must be favored in order to have recourse to special investigation techniques, to the derogatory regime of police custody and to increased protection of victims”.
Finally, Éric Dupond-Moretti ensures that“despite proactive action by all judicial and penitentiary actors, the situation of overcrowding in prisons, and particularly in remand centers, remains critical”. He therefore calls for “to reinforce” the sentences of work of general interest (TIG), a “credible, relevant and effective alternative sanction to imprisonment”.
A general criminal policy circular is a document signed and sent every two years by the Keeper of the Seals to all prosecutors in the country, to set priorities. It is not the prosecutors who pronounce sentences but they are the ones who open investigations and formulate requisitions during trials.