Police custody reform: what changes as of 1 July 2024?

Police custody is a measure depriving a person of his or her liberty during a judicial investigation against a person suspected of having committed an offense. The offense must be a crime or an offense punishable by imprisonment.

The reform strengthens the rights of people in police custody. It follows up on France's obligation to comply with European Union law, in particular as regards the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings.

The changes concern three points.

1/ Reform broadens the circle of people the detainee can inform : the latter can now designate a friend, a colleague or his employer, in addition to the family circle or the person sharing his life. The detainee can name only one relative in the following list:

• person with whom he usually lives;
• mother or father
• one grandparent;
• one of his children;
• a brother or sister;
• any other person of his choice.

The accused person may appoint a lawyer to be in custody; this appointment must be confirmed by the lawyer.

2/ No hearing can now be held without a lawyer. The detainee may “from the outset of detention and at any time during detention” ask to be assisted by a lawyer appointed by him or by an official. Until now, the first hearing could take place without a lawyer if he had not appeared within 2 hours (waiting period). The law removes the waiting period which until then allowed the investigator to begin questioning, even without a lawyer, once that period had expired.

It is therefore no longer possible to interview the detainee without his lawyer, unless the latter waives his right; or the public prosecutor justifies by a written and reasoned decision that it is essential to proceed immediately with the hearing without waiting for the lawyer to arrive (for example, in case of danger to a person’s life.

In all cases, the lawyer will be able to “attend the hearing or the confrontation in progress as soon as he arrives at the premises of the judicial police service”.

3/ The lawyer can now consult not only the minutes of the hearings, but also of the confrontations that took place.