Can you plead guilty in France? CRPC versus criminal trial

Under French law, a defendant can admit guilt through a statutory procedure called comparution sur reconnaissance préalable de culpabilité (CRPC), but only for certain offences and only if a judge approves the outcome. So yes, you can plead guilty in France, within strict limits.

Can you plead guilty in France?

France has no open plea hearing of the English kind. Its closest equivalent is CRPC. Under CRPC, the prosecutor proposes a sentence and a judge decides whether to approve it. If an eligible defendant admits the alleged facts, accepts the proposed sentence and obtains that approval, the case ends without a contested trial on guilt.

What does a CRPC admission mean?

A CRPC admission is not one single act. It involves several distinct decisions, and the person under prosecution keeps control over only some of them. The distinction that carries weight here is between admitting the facts and agreeing to the penalty.

• Acknowledging the facts: this is the threshold condition, and without it CRPC cannot begin.

• Accepting the sentence: a separate decision, so you may admit the facts and still reject the penalty offered.

• The prosecutor's choice: the prosecution decides whether to use CRPC at all.

• A defence request: you or your lawyer may ask for CRPC, but cannot compel the prosecutor to agree.

In practice, this means a request for CRPC is a negotiating position, not an entitlement. Its value depends on whether the prosecutor is prepared to take that route.

Which offences qualify?

French law sorts offences into three tiers: contraventions (minor offences), délits (intermediate offences) and crimes (the most serious). Article 495-7 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure, in its version effective from 20 March 2024, allows CRPC for eligible délits where the defendant acknowledges the facts, subject to statutory exclusions.

• Contraventions: outside ordinary CRPC.

• Délits: the only tier where CRPC applies, if no exclusion bites.

• Crimes: outside CRPC and tried in the higher courts.

• Named exclusions: involuntary homicide, press offences and political offences.

The first check is therefore the legal classification of the offence as charged, before any discussion of the sentence.

Which defendants and charges are excluded?

CRPC is unavailable for offences committed by minors. A British national prosecuted in France can use it on the same conditions as anyone else. Certain offences against physical integrity, and sexual assault, are excluded where the statutory maximum exceeds five years' imprisonment. That threshold refers to the maximum penalty for the offence, not to the sentence proposed. The exact charge decides eligibility, and no admission can bring an ineligible offence within CRPC.

How does the CRPC procedure work?

CRPC follows a fixed order: the prosecutor's interview, the defendant's decision, then a public approval hearing before a judge. A lawyer is present at each of these stages. What matters in this situation is knowing what can still be shaped at each stage.

The prosecutor's proposal and legal assistance

The public prosecutor may start CRPC on their own initiative or at the request of the defendant or their lawyer. The defendant is then summoned, or brought before the prosecutor directly after police custody. A CRPC summons is not a conviction.

A lawyer is compulsory throughout and cannot be waived, and the defence must be able to consult the case file. A defendant without sufficient means may apply for French legal aid. It is separate from criminal legal aid in England and Wales.

At the interview, the lawyer sets out the relevant circumstances before the prosecutor proposes penalties. Cabinet Georges Parastatis acts from police custody onwards, examines the investigation file and identifies gaps in the evidence, the work our criminal defence lawyer service in Paris carries into that interview.

The decision and approval hearing

Faced with the proposal, you may accept it, refuse it, or ask for 10 clear days to consider it. If you accept, the admission and the agreed sentence are formally recorded and the prosecutor asks for judicial approval. For a defendant who is not detained, the approval hearing may be set within a statutory maximum of one month.

At this public hearing, the judge checks that the facts are real, that their legal classification is correct and that the penalties are justified. The hearing and the decision take place on the same day. The judge may approve or refuse the proposal, but cannot rewrite the sentence.

The victim's place in CRPC

Under Article 495-13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, an identified victim must be informed without delay and invited to the approval hearing. The victim may attend or be represented by a lawyer, and may claim compensation as a civil party. Attendance is optional, and your acceptance of a criminal penalty does not settle that separate claim.

An absent victim who wants a ruling on compensation at the approval hearing must submit the claim by the hearing date. If the victim had no opportunity to claim, the prosecutor must tell them about a later hearing limited to civil interests.

What are the sentence and conviction consequences?

An approved CRPC order is a criminal conviction, with immediate effect. The sentence is shaped by statutory limits rather than by a guaranteed discount. These limits deserve attention before any decision is taken.

Limits on the proposed sentence

CRPC does not guarantee a lighter outcome or a non-custodial one. The prosecutor may propose imprisonment, a fine and legally available additional penalties, all subject to statutory limits and to approval by a judge.

Under Article 495-8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a proposed custodial sentence cannot exceed three years or half the maximum term, whichever is lower. For an offence carrying four years, the ceiling is two years. That figure is a cap, not a prediction of your sentence.

A prison term may be wholly or partly suspended where the law permits. If immediate custody is proposed, the prosecutor must state whether it begins at once or is referred to the sentence-enforcement judge for arrangements.

Fines, additional penalties and records

A fine cannot exceed the statutory maximum for the offence, and may be suspended where permitted. Official French guidance provides for a 20% reduction if the fine is paid within 30 days of notification. This is a payment incentive, not a discount for admitting guilt. Depending on the offence, additional penalties may include driving restrictions, an educational course or limits on professional activity.

The conviction is entered in the French criminal record, which has three extracts. B1 is the most complete. B2 is restricted to authorised bodies for defined purposes. B3 is the narrowest, and the individual can request it.

Record disclosure and appeals

You may ask for the conviction to be excluded from bulletin no. 2 where the law allows. That exclusion does not remove the conviction from the record as a whole. A French conviction may also affect employment, professional regulation, immigration, travel or UK disclosure, depending on the applicable rules.

You normally have 10 days from notification of the approval order to lodge an appeal. The order remains enforceable meanwhile. If you alone appeal, the court cannot increase the sentence. An increase becomes possible if the prosecutor also appeals in the relevant manner.

What if CRPC is delayed or refused?

Taking time, refusing, or a judge's refusal each change the course of the case. None of these outcomes closes it. One point worth knowing is which steps carry consequences of their own.

Taking time to decide

Asking for a reflection period can trigger a separate decision on interim supervision or detention. Where the prosecutor seeks immediate execution of a custodial sentence of at least two months, you may be brought before the liberty and detention judge. Detention is not automatic and requires a judicial decision under the statutory conditions.

After certain detention or supervision decisions, the case returns to the CRPC process within 10 to 20 days of that judge's ruling. The official CRPC procedure deadlines keep this reflection period separate from the later appeal period.

When the proposal is not approved

If you reject the penalty or the judge refuses approval, the case may go before the tribunal correctionnel in ordinary criminal proceedings. In specified circumstances, a further CRPC proposal remains possible.

The prosecutor may instead request a judicial investigation where appropriate. That route leads to an investigating judge rather than to an immediate trial.

After a failed CRPC, its formal record cannot be sent to the investigating or trial court. The parties cannot rely on statements made or documents supplied during it. Evidence obtained independently, however, remains usable against you.

An ordinary French criminal trial

The tribunal correctionnel tries délits. At an ordinary hearing, it examines the case, hears the prosecution and defence submissions, and delivers a judgment. The tribunal de police deals with contraventions. The most serious crimes go to a cour d'assises or, in specified cases, to a cour criminelle départementale, as our guide to criminal court representation in France sets out.

Before the court of assize, defence work starts with access to the investigation file and preparing the accused for the hearing. Cabinet Georges Parastatis examines the file and prepares clients for the questions they may face, the core of our assize court defence work in France.

How does CRPC differ from a UK guilty plea?

Both systems allow a contested trial to be avoided, but they allocate decisions differently. In the French system, the defendant accepts or rejects a proposed sentence. In England and Wales, the court sets the sentence after a plea. Treating the two as identical leads to wrong expectations.

Who decides the sentence?

The distinction that matters is who fixes the penalty, and at what point the defendant learns it.

• England and Wales: a guilty plea normally removes the need for a contested trial on the admitted charge.

• Charge discussions: in appropriate cases, prosecution and defence may discuss acceptable charges or pleas.

• Prosecutorial duty: the prosecutor must consider whether the accepted plea allows a sentence reflecting the seriousness of the offending.

• France: the defendant learns the proposed penalty before deciding, as described above.

In England and Wales, you may still have to attend a plea or sentencing hearing. Under CRPC, you know the proposed penalty before you commit to it.

Is there a guilty-plea discount?

For eligible adults in England and Wales, the Sentencing Council guideline effective from 1 June 2017 sets a maximum reduction of one-third. That applies when the plea is indicated at the first stage, normally the first hearing at which a plea is sought. The maximum then falls to one-quarter, and to one-tenth on the first day of trial.

A plea during trial can earn less, or in specified circumstances nothing. These are maxima, not guarantees, and they do not ensure that custody is avoided. French CRPC has no equivalent universal one-third discount. Its protection lies in the Article 495-8 ceiling described above.

Will there be a jury or court hearing?

A contested Crown Court trial in England and Wales normally has a jury decide guilt.

Magistrates' courts in England and Wales ordinarily decide cases without a jury.

CRPC replaces a contested trial, not a court appearance. You will still appear at a public approval hearing before a judge, so admitting the facts does not mean avoiding court.