프랑스의 신속한 사건처리절차와 시사점 - 프랑스의 유죄인정제도를 중심으로 -

Abstract

On March 9, 2004, France revised its Criminal Procedural Act, thereby adopting a new system called「la comparution sur reconnaissance préalable de culpabilité」. This system is the French equivalent to the plea bargaining system under the Anglo-American criminal justice system and has the purpose of allowing an efficient handling of criminal cases. Under this new system the public prosecutor can propose a criminal sentence to an accused who has admitted his criminal culpability. If the accused accepts the criminal sentence, then the public prosecutor can file a motion to the judge and the judge, after deliberations, will either accept or reject the sentence proposed by the public prosecutor. The French system adds some variations to the American system and is thus different in several aspects. First, this system only applies to criminal charges of which the maximum legal length of imprisonment is 5 years or less or for misdemeanor cases of which the legal penalty is a fine. Second, when proposing an actual penalty, the length of imprisonment cannot exceed 1 year nor can it exceed more than half of the length of imprisonment procribed under the law. Third, the accused can either consent to or reject the sentence proposed by the public prosecutor, but cannot bargain for a better treatment or receive promise of concessions from the public prosecutor, such as a lighter penalty. The judge must confirm the facts and legal analysis of the case in addition to the appropriateness of the proposed sentence. In no case can the accused waive his rights to receive assistance from his legal counsel. The fact that France, which is a civil law jurisdiction, adopted this new system brings much to consider for Korea. This paper analysis the possibility of introducing a similar system to the Korean justice system through adjustments and supplementation on matters such as the scope of crimes that can be subject to this system, the limits on the penalty proposed by the public prosecutor, regulations on the nature, scope and method of the bargaining procedure, judicial oversight by the judge and mandatory provisions on the right to receive legal counsel.