The public prosecutor’s office in the French legal system

Abstract

This contribution attempts to highlight the changes in the French Public Prosecutor's Office, which affect both the place and the role that the institution now plays in the conduct of criminal trials. Although its members remain 'magistrates', they still do not enjoy the guarantees of full independence and impartiality, even though the development of their missions in terms of implementing criminal policy and the criminal response is certainly spectacular. More than a critical study of the existing situation, this contribution attempts to project the prospects for a more radical transformation of the Public Prosecutor's Office by examining the structure of the criminal trial. The questions of the erosion of the specific features of the pre-trial investigation, the specialisation of members of the public prosecutor's office, the de-specialisation of certain investigative methods and the progression of fundamental rights and freedoms permeate all the developments. The ambition is to reflect, as best we can, the state of our Public Prosecution Service in a European environment that is, on this issue, heterogeneous.