French criminal procedure

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French criminal procedure (procédure pénale) focuses on how individuals accused of crimes are dealt with in the French criminal justice system: how people are investigated, prosecuted, tried, and punished for an infraction defined in the penal code. These procedural issues are codified in the French code of criminal procedure (Code de procédure pénale).^[1] It is the procedural arm of French criminal law.

French criminal procedure has roots in customary law under the Ancien regime under Louis XIV, and was first codified with the Code of criminal procedure of 1808 ^[fr] (Code d'instruction criminelle). This was replaced in 1959 with the Code of criminal procedure (Code de procédure pénale; CPP).

The main groups involved in the administration of criminal justice in France are the courts, the Public Ministry (France), and the judicial police. Criminal courts are structured in three levels, with the Police court and the Correctional court in the first instance; appeals are held by the Cour d'appel and the Cour de Cassation.

Courts involved include the police court and the correctional court at the first level or instance, and the Cour d'Appel and Cour de Cassation at the second and third instance. Traditionally, the legal system for administering criminal justice in France has been and continues to be the inquisitorial system, but more and more, aspects of the adversarial system, such as plea bargaining, have been included as well.

The typical stages of criminal procedure include: reporting an offense, police investigation, prosecution, judicial investigation, trial, and sentencing. During the investigation phase, various powers are available to assist, such as: garde à vue (remand in custody); arrest, search, and others, all laid out in specific sections of the code.