Criminal justice system in France: from custody to court
The French criminal justice system sorts every offence into one of three categories, and that classification decides which procedure applies and which court will hear the case. A French case moves through the police investigation, custody, the investigating judge and the trial courts. At each stage, what a defence lawyer can do differs, and so does how that defence is funded.
Who investigates and decides whether to prosecute?
French criminal proceedings distinguish four stages: a police investigation, then a decision by the prosecutor, then a formal judicial investigation where one is required, then a trial. Not every case goes through every stage. Which stages apply depends on how the offence is classified, so classification is the first point to establish.
The framework for a criminal case
French criminal law recognises three categories of offence: contraventions, délits and crimes. The Penal Code defines each offence and its maximum penalty. Investigations, custody and hearings are governed by the French Criminal Procedure Code. The French legal framework also requires fair, adversarial proceedings, keeps prosecution separate from judgment and guarantees the presumption of innocence. Article 64 of the 1958 Constitution protects the independence of the judiciary.
Police enquiries under the prosecutor
The public prosecutor directs the work of police and gendarmerie officers, who are the people who investigate crimes in France. That work takes one of two forms, and the form determines what powers the investigators have in practice.
Evidence gathering: interviews, forensic work, searches and seizures carried out during the criminal investigation.
Flagrancy investigation: used for an offence that is ongoing or was recently committed, if the statutory conditions are met.
Enhanced powers: in a flagrancy investigation, investigators have wider powers, but only for a limited period.
Preliminary investigation: used outside the flagrancy framework, with its own rules on authorisations and safeguards.
The distinction that carries weight here is which framework was used. A search that is lawful in a flagrancy investigation may need a separate authorisation in a preliminary investigation. The defence can later use that difference to challenge the search.
The prosecutor’s decision after enquiries
Once the enquiries are finished, the prosecutor may drop the case for insufficient evidence, because of a legal obstacle, or because prosecution is judged inappropriate. A dropped case can still be reopened where the law allows. Where the statutory conditions are met, the prosecutor may instead use an alternative measure rather than sending the case to court.
The prosecutor can also bring proceedings by summons, by police notification or by an expedited procedure, or can ask for a formal judicial investigation. The prosecutor does not decide guilt. That decision belongs to the trial court alone. In practice, the decision frequently turns on what the file contains when the enquiries close, which is why criminal court representation in France starts before any court is involved.
What happens in police custody?
Police custody, or garde à vue, is the stage where a person's rights and the time limits on investigators are most tightly connected. It means being held for the purposes of an investigation. It is not a conviction. Going to a police station does not by itself mean you are in custody: your legal status, and whether you attended voluntarily, are what count.
When custody starts and how long it lasts
Under Article 63 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, an authorised judicial police officer may place a person in custody, either on the officer's own initiative or on the prosecutor's instructions. The statutory conditions of suspicion and necessity must be met. The time limits work as follows:
Initial period: ordinary custody lasts up to 24 hours.
Extension: a further 24 hours is possible only with the prosecutor's written, reasoned authorisation and if additional conditions are met.
Special regimes: separate rules allow longer custody for certain serious offences.
One point worth knowing: if you were already deprived of liberty earlier in connection with the same facts, that time may count towards the custody period. An extension that ignores it is open to challenge.
Information and rights in custody
You must be told promptly, in a language you understand, why you are being held, which offence you are suspected of and what your rights are. Your rights while in custody are as follows:
Assistance: a lawyer, an interpreter where needed, and a medical examination.
Documents and silence: access to specified procedural documents and the right to remain silent. Refusing to answer does not by itself end custody.
Notification: since 1 July 2024, a wider range of people can be informed, and your employer may also be notified in the circumstances provided by law.
When the authorities are considering an extension, you can make representations. What matters in this situation is that this right is used: it is a formal opportunity to argue against further time in custody.
What the custody lawyer can do
You can ask for a lawyer at the start of custody or at any point later. You can name a lawyer yourself or ask for one to be officially appointed, and you can then speak with that lawyer in private.
The former general two-hour wait no longer applies. Questioning generally cannot begin without the lawyer you have requested. The exceptions are an express waiver on your part, a decision by the prosecutor that you be questioned immediately, or an exceptional postponement of the lawyer's attendance, authorised in writing with reasons.
A lawyer who arrives while an interview or confrontation is under way may join it, assist you and read the interview and confrontation records. The lawyer does not see the whole investigation file. Before you sign an interview record, check it and ask for corrections. What you say before a lawyer arrives can carry evidential weight that is hard to undo.
When does an investigating judge take over?
Most cases never reach an investigating judge. When one is appointed, the case becomes more structured. Evidence is gathered over a longer period under judicial control, and both the defence and the prosecution have formal rights and remedies during that time.
When a judicial investigation is required
Under the ordinary procedure, a formal judicial investigation is compulsory for crimes. For less serious offences, it is optional. Many délit cases therefore go straight from police enquiries to court without one.
The investigating judge must look for evidence both against the suspect and in the suspect's favour. To do so, the judge has the following tools:
Questioning: of suspects, witnesses and victims.
Confrontations: placing different accounts face to face.
Searches and seizures: ordered directly by the judge.
Expert evidence and instructions to police: commissioning reports and delegating specified acts to officers.
This active fact-finding by the judge comes from France's inquisitorial tradition. A judicial investigation is still not a trial, and the defence keeps all of its adversarial procedural rights throughout.
The suspect’s status and liberty
Formal placement under judicial examination, called mise en examen, requires sufficiently serious or consistent indications linking you to the offence, together with an interview by the investigating judge. It is not a conviction. You must be told the allegations and your rights, including the right to silence and the right to a lawyer. An assisted witness has protections too, but a different procedural status.
Applications for pre-trial detention are decided by the judge responsible for liberty and detention. Pre-trial detention is a separate thing from a prison sentence imposed after conviction. Cabinet Georges Parastatis attends these detention hearings, where the arguments about your liberty are decided.
File access, challenges and closure
Your access to the file depends on your procedural status. A person placed under judicial examination, and that person's lawyer, can consult the file under the applicable rules. The defence can ask for further investigative acts, apply to annul defective procedural material, and appeal certain orders made by the investigating judge. These are three separate remedies, each with its own conditions.
According to the official guide, an investigation should take 1 year for a délit and 18 months for a crime. These are guidelines, not automatic end dates. Once the indicated period has passed, an eligible party can ask for the investigation to be closed. A refusal must give reasons, and a new request can be made after six months. The judge then either closes the case or sends it to the competent trial court.
How does a case move through court?
As noted above, classification determines the trial court. That choice of court affects the judges you face, whether there is a jury and whether a lawyer is mandatory.
Which court hears each offence?
The tribunal de police hears contraventions. These are divided into five classes and carry financial rather than custodial penalties. The tribunal correctionnel hears délits such as theft, assault and many driving offences. Depending on the case, it sits with either one professional judge or three.
Qualifying crimes committed by adults and punishable by 15 to 20 years' imprisonment generally go to the departmental criminal court, provided legal recidivism has not been retained. Other crimes go to the assize court, where Cabinet Georges Parastatis handles defence before the French assize court.
Court | Offences | Composition |
Tribunal de police | Contraventions (five classes) | Professional judge; financial penalties |
Tribunal correctionnel | Délits | One or three professional judges |
Departmental criminal court | Adult crimes punishable by 15 to 20 years | Five professional judges |
Assize court, first instance | Other crimes | Three judges and six jurors |
Assize court, appeal | Crimes on appeal | Three judges and nine jurors |
Evidence, jury and victims at trial
At trial, you can answer the evidence and challenge how reliable it is, how the offence has been classified and what sentence is proposed. The court decides guilt first. Only after a conviction does it decide the punishment.
An ordinary assize court trial is conducted orally. Judges and jurors decide both guilt and sentence together. Voting is secret, and blank or invalid votes count in favour of the accused.
A victim may join the proceedings as a civil party, known as partie civile, to claim compensation, and may be represented by a separate lawyer.
Appeals and exceptions to jury trials
According to the official guide, decisions given at first instance by the assize court and the departmental criminal court can be appealed within an appeal period of 10 calendar days. Other decisions have their own appeal rules. An appeal against an assize verdict covers both the facts and the sentence, and leads to a full retrial before another assize court with a larger jury. The Court of Cassation, by contrast, reviews only questions of law and procedure.
Not every serious case is tried by a jury. Departmental criminal courts, and the special assize courts used for terrorism and major drug trafficking, sit without citizen jurors. Separate rules apply to serious crimes allegedly committed by young people.
How is the defence organised and funded?
In French criminal law, what a defence lawyer is allowed to do depends on the stage of the case and on your status within it. Two further questions follow from that: whether a lawyer is compulsory at your trial, and who pays for one.
Advice before the case reaches trial
Gparastatis-avocat assists with arrests, summonses, questioning, custody, judicial investigations and pre-trial detention hearings. Two quick routes to court are easy to confuse, and the difference between them matters:
Immediate appearance: an expedited route to the criminal court, available only when the statutory conditions are met.
Time to prepare: in an immediate appearance, your right to ask for time to prepare your defence is particularly important.
Prior admission of guilt: a separate procedure in which you admit the offence and accept a proposed penalty, subject to eligibility and approval by a judge.
Our criminal defence lawyer service in Paris explains the consequences of these routes before you agree to either one.
Building and presenting the defence
We examine the prosecution file for gaps, ask for investigative measures or expert examinations where they are needed, and challenge evidence affected by procedural irregularities. To prepare a hearing, we reconstruct the chronology of events, anticipate the questions you are likely to face and help you understand how to address the court. Depending on the case, the defence then contests the evidence or presents mitigating circumstances.
A lawyer is generally optional in the police court and may be optional in the tribunal correctionnel. Representation is compulsory before the departmental criminal court and the assize court, and a lawyer is appointed there if you have not chosen one. Because of the procedural and evidential complexity involved, we advise being represented before the tribunal correctionnel as well.
Appointment, legal aid and remaining costs
An officially appointed lawyer is not automatically free. Whether you qualify for French legal aid depends on your financial resources, your assets and the personal conditions that apply to you.
Legal aid may cover 100%, 55% or 25% of eligible costs. You can apply before or during the proceedings. Fees paid before a formal decision on legal aid are generally not refunded, so it is worth checking early whether your chosen lawyer accepts legal-aid work.
Legal aid does not pay a criminal fine or compensation owed to a victim. For court costs incurred from 21 February 2026 onwards, the convicted person is generally liable. Exceptions apply, including for people receiving legal aid and for minors.
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