The first experimentation of the “New start pack” intended for battered women will be carried out in Val-d’Oise. For Luc Frémiot, magistrate and author of “Non-assistance to women in danger”, believes that this device does not meet the needs of victims of domestic violence.
“Once again, the government is irrelevant”, reacted Luc Frémiot, honorary magistrate, former deputy general at the Douai Court of Appeal, author of “Non-assistance to women in danger”, published by the Observatory editions. Announced by the Prime Minister last September, it was Isabelle Rome, Minister Delegate for Equality between Women and Men, who launched this Friday the “fresh start pack” for women victims of domestic violence.
The first experimentation of this device is planned in the Val-d’Oise. It aims to help women “to get out of the clutches” of their violent companion, according to the minister. “It’s a pack for an organized escape”denounces the magistrate. “It’s the men who must leave before they kill”he explained.
franceinfo: What does this new system inspire in you?
Luc Fremiot: Again, I’m afraid the government is off topic. It’s a bit cynical to call these provisions a “fresh start pack”. This is a pack for an organized getaway. That’s the reality. The reality is that it is a message that is passed on to the victims. They are told, the women must leave before they are killed. Nice prospect. Maybe now we should finally change the software, remembering that if someone has to leave, it’s the men who must leave before they kill.
What should be done ?
It is absolutely necessary to fight against recidivism. And the only way to fight against recidivism is obviously to punish the perpetrators, to take them into account and above all to allow women to lodge complaints in good conditions and in a systematic way, that they are protected, that answers are given by the police authorities, but also by the magistrates. We must take its authors, get them out of the home, place them in a closed structure or under judicial control, with psychiatrists, psychologists who lead them to reflect on the conditions of reiteration. That’s the subject today and it’s still not done. All the money always goes towards these devices which aim to facilitate the flight of these women who leave their homes. I find that quite intolerable. It’s unbearable !
Women are not sufficiently protected by justice?
A woman today who is a victim of violence, what does she do? Where’s she going ? She goes to the police station, she goes to the gendarmerie and there, it’s a lottery. Either it will be well received or it will not. Then she’ll be followed by a diligent prosecutor or it won’t be done. Hierarchical control is needed. For example, every quarter, a statement of what has been done, the number of complaints, the number of investigations carried out and the results of these investigations. As long as we don’t lock up all these characters who intervene in the fight against violence in a kind of situation that forces them to report, we won’t succeed.
Is everyone in the justice system, the police or the gendarmerie mobilizing against violence against women?
There are indeed people who are very committed, the police, the gendarmes or the magistrates. But there are also some that are not. A dispute of this nature is a real bet for the future, because there are children who are often behind, who are minor victims, who are witnesses and who are also indirectly impacted. We do not have the right in such a serious dispute, with repercussions on these children, therefore on the near future, to be satisfied with a certain part of the magistrates or the police or gendarmerie officials who do their job well. They must be supervised in a much stronger way, in a hierarchical way to obtain results.