Justice De Proximité - The Growth of ‘Houses of Justice’ and Victim/Offender Mediation in France: A Very Unfrench Legal Response?

Abstract

Initiatives in mediation and reparation have developed significantly across diverse European countries, none more so than in France over the last decade. This article seeks to situate and explain the recent growth in France of the 'Maisons de Justice' (Houses of Justice) and victim/offender mediation they offer. This explanation is connected to an understanding of the increasingly dominant discourse of 'justice de proximité', its dynamics and its place within French juridical politics. The article draws upon ESRC funded empirical -observational and interview-based -research conducted in the Lyon and Paris areas during 1997. The article goes on to interrogate the implications of these institutions and practices for the present state of French criminal justice. It is argued that through the analysis of these 'very unFrench' legal responses we can prise open fundamental ambiguities and debates at the heart of French legal and cultural life in a period of momentous socio-legal challenge and flux. It is suggested that these institutions and practices embody, at the same time as trying to resolve, significant contradictions within French legal culture.

Restorative justice and legal culture

“…In Chile, the movement for Judicial Reforms that has spread in South America 13 since the 1990s, meant that the new adversarial system was the ‘fresh air’ that put an end to centuries of the inquisitorial system. This contrasts with the situation experienced in the United States and other European countries where RJ emerged as a critique to an adversarial system that had been operating for decades (if not centuries) (Díaz Gude, 2010), and had entered into a crisis of legitimacy and/or effectiveness (Crawford, 2000: 44; Shapland, 2011: 454–456; Zehr, 1990: 94), or a ‘general dissatisfaction’ with the system (Braithwaite, 1999; Pavlich, 2005, cited in Hayes et al, 2014: 111). Since RJ posits a fundamental critique to adversarial justice, one could hypothesize that its ideological message would be weaker in countries undergoing justice changes such as Chile (Díaz Gude, 2010: 61).…”

“…Shapland (2011), in turn, refers to the ‘uneasy’ relationship with ‘community’ that RJ practices have in countries such as France, Belgium and Germany, explaining this as a consequence of the particular features of their civil law traditions and national criminal justice cultures. Crawford (2000) analysed penal mediation in France, its connection to Houses of Justice and the discourse of ‘ justice de proximité ’ as a very ‘un-French legal response’, one which departs from French legal tradition and at the same time, embodies, as well as tries to resolve, significant contradictions within French legal culture in a period of socio-legal challenges (Crawford, 2000: 31).…”

“…This is related to western Continental European countries, which share a common political regime (liberal, social democratic), a similar civil law legal system, a Catholic religious tradition (with some exceptions such as Germany) and where the development of RJ has been, in general, more widespread and longstanding than in eastern Europe (Crawford, 2000: 29; Dünkel et al, 2015: 6, 209–210). Napoleonic legal heritage lies at the heart of this tradition, which is exemplified by legal codification.…”

“… 3. Though there might be volunteers in this tradition (see, for instance, Crawford, 2000: 36–37; Jullion, 2000: 240), the use of professional mediators will be the dominant practice. …”

Civil Solidarity or Fragmented Identities? The Politics of Sexuality and Citizenship in France

“…It was thus contrary to the principle of equality (since signs of religious affiliation were forbidden in schools). 2 While republicanism is constituted so as to provide ready answers to citizenship claims grounded in claims to difference, equally it must engage in ideological labour in its response to claims from 'above' the nation state, in the form of transnational and globalizing pressures (Crawford, 2000). And to do so, republicanism must replace its use of a discourse of universality with a focus on the particularity of the French nation and people (Laborde, 2000).…”