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Chapter II: Courts for the enforcement of sentences

Article 712-1 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

The Sentence Enforcement Judge and the Sentence Enforcement Court constitute the first-level sentence enforcement courts, which are responsible, under the conditions laid down by law, for setting the main terms and conditions for the enforcement of custodial sentences or certain sentences restricting freedom, by guiding and monitoring the conditions under which they are enforced. These courts are informed by the integration and probation services of the procedures for dealing with…

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Article 712-2 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

One or more sitting magistrates are entrusted with the duties of the sentence enforcement judge in the judicial courts, the list of which is set by decree. There shall be at least one sentence enforcement judge per department. These magistrates shall be appointed by decree issued after consultation with the Conseil supérieur de la magistrature. Their duties may be terminated in the same manner. If a sentence enforcement judge is…

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Article 712-3 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

One or more enforcement courts are established within the jurisdiction of each court of appeal, the territorial jurisdiction of which, corresponding to that of one or more judicial courts within the jurisdiction, is set by decree. The sentence enforcement court is composed of a president and two assessors appointed by the first president from among the sentence enforcement judges within the court’s jurisdiction. In the overseas departments, at least one…

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Article 712-4 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

Measures falling within the jurisdiction of the sentence enforcement judge are granted, modified, deferred, refused, withdrawn or revoked by order or reasoned judgment of this magistrate acting ex officio, at the request of the sentenced person or at the request of the public prosecutor, according to the distinctions set out in the following articles.

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Article 712-4-1 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

Where provided for by law, decisions on the enforcement of sentences are taken after consulting the enforcement of sentences committee chaired by the enforcement of sentences judge and made up of the public prosecutor, the head of the prison, a representative of the prison integration and probation service and a representative of the commanding body or the supervisory and enforcement body of surveillance staff When the commission gives its opinion…

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Article 712-5 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

Except in emergencies, orders concerning sentence reductions, escorted outings and temporary absences shall be made after consulting the Sentence Enforcement Commission. This commission shall be deemed to have given its opinion if it is not given within one month of the date of referral. .

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Article 712-6 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

Rulings concerning work release, semi-liberty, splitting and suspension of sentences, home detention under electronic surveillance and conditional release are made, after consulting the representative of the prison administration, following an adversarial hearing held in chambers, during which the sentence enforcement judge hears the prosecution’s submissions and the sentenced person’s observations and, where applicable, those of his lawyer, without prejudice to the application of the provisions of article 712-16-3. If the…

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Article 712-7 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

Measures concerning the increase in the security period, conditional release or suspension of sentence which do not fall within the jurisdiction of the sentence enforcement judge are granted, postponed, refused, withdrawn or revoked by reasoned judgment of the sentence enforcement court hearing the case at the request of the sentenced person, at the request of the public prosecutor or on the initiative of the sentence enforcement judge to whom the…

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Article 712-8 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

Decisions modifying or refusing to modify the measures mentioned in the first and fourth paragraphs of article 712-6 or the obligations resulting from these measures or from measures ordered by the sentence enforcement court pursuant to article 712-7 are taken by reasoned order of the sentence enforcement judge, unless the public prosecutor requests that they be the subject of a judgment taken after adversarial debate in accordance with the provisions…

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Article 712-9 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure

If the non-detained sentenced person, duly summoned to the address declared to the sentence enforcement judge under whose supervision he or she is placed, fails, without legitimate reason, to attend the adversarial hearing provided for by the articles 712-6 or 712-7, the sentence enforcement judge or the sentence enforcement court may rule in his absence. The time limit for appeal then only runs from the notification of the judgment made…

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