Paris: French Member Parliaments have voted in favour of enforcing shorter prison sentences for minor criminal offences, reopening the prospect of judges handing down prison terms of a month, or even less.
According to Emirates News Agency, a bill proposed by MP Loc Kervran, with support from the centre-right Horizons, MoDem, and the right-wing Les R©publicains parties, as well as far-right Rassemblement national and Union des Droites pour la R©publique, was adopted by 63 votes to 42. The text revises several provisions of previous justice reforms aimed at relieving prison overcrowding, including the 2019 reform, and reintroduces the possibility of judges handing down jail terms of less than one month.
The new legislation repeals the principle that a sentence of six months or less must be subject to adjustments, such as wearing an electronic tag, unless the judge provides a reasoned decision. This means incarceration could once again become the norm for numerous relatively minor offences rather than the exception. Conversely, the text allows for the adjustment of sentences of up to two years' imprisonment, compared with one year at present.
While the bill received partial backing from centrist groups and the far-right National Rally party, left-wing parties collectively opposed the legislation. They expressed concerns about the return of punitive policies that do not offer genuine structural solutions. The bill's future will be determined in the upcoming legislative debates.