Session étude déc 2003 E révisée

The role of users in the running of the judicial system Ways of providing users with a role in the management of the courts Ms Simone GABORIAU, Member of the EUROPA Scientific Board, Judge (divisional President of the Versailles Court of Appeal) Promoting user involvement in the functioning of the courts: renewed legitimacy for an institution experiencing a crisis of confidence STATE OF PLAY: A CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE In September 2002, a CSA survey for Le Parisien, Aujourd’hui en France and Séléction du Reader’s Digest revealed that 65% of French people felt that public services in France worked very well or reasonably well. When asked to award the public services marks out of 20, the respondents gave the best marks to EDF (the state electricity company) (14.7), closely followed by the town halls, with the ANPE (national employment agency) and the judicial system bringing up the rear, the latter being the only service to score less than half marks. Both the ANPE and the judicial system are institutions whose very function may make them a source of deep-seated frustration. In a context where over 10% of the workforce is unemployed, it is not easy to provide satisfaction for those who fail to find a job. The justice system, meanwhile, sentences and detains people, deprives them of part of their assets, fines them, evicts them, denies them custody of their children and finds against at least half of those who are parties to cases; what ...