Hautes-Alpes Departmental Criminal Court Holds First Session: Incestuous Rape and Other Cases on Trial

The first session of the Hautes-Alpes departmental criminal court (CCD) is being held at the Gap court from Monday 22 to Thursday 25 May. During the first two days, a man in his sixties accused of incestuous rape of a minor aged 15, rape of minors and sexual assault on a minor aged 15 and over will be tried. The facts were allegedly committed between 2001 and 2006. The second trial, from Wednesday 24 to Thursday 25, will be that of a man in his twenties accused of a rape which allegedly took place in 2019

Five professional magistrates without a popular jury

Adults accused of a crime punishable by 15 or 20 years’ imprisonment – ​​when the state of legal recidivism is not retained – can now be tried by a criminal court. This is made up of five professional magistrates in place of the six jurors and three professional magistrates who made up the court of assizes which had previously judged these crimes. After an experimental phase, departmental criminal courts (CCD) were generalized throughout France on 1^is January 2023.

Rapes mostly judged by criminal courts

First carried out in seven departments, the experiment was extended to six others, including Isère in 2020. Between June 2021 – the first session of the criminal court of Isère – and January 2023, 24 cases were judged by this departmental jurisdiction of a new kind. All concerned acts of rape (out of all the experimentation carried out in France, 88% of the cases judged concerned rape).

In addition, the departmental criminal courts are, among other things, competent to judge acts of voluntary violence resulting in death without the intention of giving it or permanent disability with an aggravating circumstance, theft with a weapon, kidnapping or sequestration without voluntary release. before the seventh day, forgery in public writing by a person holding public authority, torture or acts of barbarism…