Juvenile judge and impartiality

Juvenile judge and impartiality. Young people | Regulatory In a decision of the Constitutional Council from July 8, 2011, the role of the judge's children has been widely revisited. Indeed, since the order of 1945 relating to delinquent children, children judge a dual role: that of magistrate because he may instruct an investigation into a minor and at the same time as president of the tribunal for child, responsible for deciding on the guilt of the minor and his sentence should he be found guilty of the offence on which he himself led the statement. The Constitutional Council had already considered the question of the juvenile criminal justice in the analysis of the Act LOPPSI 2 specifying the two principles on which it is based: •the ' mitigation of responsibility for minors age •and the need to seek rehabilitation educational and moral offenders children through measures adapted to their age and their personality. The possibility for a judge of the children investigate a matter for which he may consider as Chairman of the tribunal for child of the minor's guilt is, according to the Constitutional Council contrary to the impartiality principle defended by the constitution. This declaration of unconstitutionality will intervene only to January 1, 2013, taking into account current affairs and "excessive" consequence of juvenile criminal justice. This decision is confirmed by another decision of August 8, 2011 of the Constitutional Council law Mercier on the judgement of minors. The Act, Mercier was also censured by the Council in these provisions concerning inter alia the direct appearance of the minor (recidivists from 16 to 18 years) before the correctional tribunal without preparatory training before a juvenile judge. That the children's judge who has heard the case preside over the juvenile correctional court does not escape censorship. The Constitutional Council therefore recalls its decision very shortly before "the principle of impartiality of the courts does not oppose that the juvenile judge who has heard the procedure may, at the end of this statement, measures of assistance, supervision or education; that, however, by allowing the juvenile judge who was tasked to accomplish stagecoaches useful to achieve the establishment of the truth and who returned the juvenile before the juvenile court to preside over the trial court empowered to pronounce sentences, the impugned provisions bear the principle of impartiality of the courts an unconstitutional infringement» •Decision n ° 2011-147, July 8, 2011 (priority question of constitutionality) •Decision n ° 2011-635 August 4, 2011 (Act mercier on the participation of citizens in the functioning of criminal justice and judgement of minors)