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France in shock over US justice system
Source: Agencies |
May 21, 2011, Saturday
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THE trans-Atlantic gap separating the US and French justice systems and moral codes is as wide as the ocean itself - appalling a nation witnessing the unraveling fortunes of a favorite son, jailed IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Some of the charges leveled against Strauss-Kahn in the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in New York do not exist in France.
And if the case was being heard in France, the 62-year-old IMF chief might risk three to five years in prison instead of scores in the United States, a leading expert says. He also likely wouldn't be sitting in a notorious jail right now on a suicide watch.
Some in the United States, meanwhile, have expressed surprise that French media have identified the alleged victim by name - nearly unthinkable in US journalistic circles, which avoid publishing a victim's name in suspected sex crimes.
The photos of potential French president Strauss-Kahn - handcuffed, stooped, unshaven, tieless and whisked away to court before photographers - knocked the breath out of the French public. The initial response was a collective "that would not happen here."
Not in a country whose laws protect even a petty thief from flashing cameras in a public space and televised court hearings like the one broadcast Monday from Manhattan Criminal Court.
Not in a country whose traditions have long shielded the philandering of the powerful, at the risk of failing to uncover travesties of the law.
So different are French laws and mores, it is conceivable that Strauss-Kahn- innocent or guilty - failed to grasp the speed by which American justice runs its course, the weight given to alleged sex offenses and the egalitarian premise on which the US judicial system is based until he sat in the infamous Rikers Island prison.
Despite the weight of the charges, it is likely, experts say, that had the alleged hotel scene taken place in Paris, Strauss-Kahn's dignity would have remained intact.
In France, unlike the US, the judicial process takes place largely behind closed doors and the political powers-that-be hold sway over prosecutors. It is also a country where for centuries, infidelities were a royal ritual and bedroom secrets known to all were never more than court chatter. That unwritten bedroom code of silence is still largely respected, although the practice is bit by bit giving way to a demand for more public accountability.
"The French accept many more moral transgressions of their president, of their political class, of their elite. There is something ... a bit aristocratic" in French moral and legal culture, said Antoine Garapon, a magistrate and author of the book "To Judge in America and in France."
"The American culture is more democratic. You can head the IMF and be a citizen like others," he said.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski, another Frenchman, gained the status in France of a hounded hero when he was pursued by US justice authorities around the world for jumping bail decades ago on a sex crimes charge. Like Polanski, Strauss-Kahn has garnered more than a measure of sympathy in France.
Defamation
Attention in France has focused on what is seen as the travesty to Strauss-Kahn's presumption of innocence.
In France, there are no cameras in the courtroom or perp walks, when police, sometimes en route to court, parade suspects past waiting photographers. A 2000 law forbids even portraying photo images or TV film of a suspect in handcuffs to ensure the presumption of innocence.
France's audiovisual authority, the CSA, sent out a reminder on Tuesday of the French media's legal obligations. Dominique de Leusse, a lawyer specializing in defamation issues who has joined the Strauss-Kahn team, said he is considering filing a legal complaint about the images shown in the French media.
But there Strauss-Kahn was on French TV screens on Monday and fronting French papers Tuesday, the debonaire politician in his moment of ignominy.
Having Strauss-Kahn jailed "is a kind of national humiliation," said political analyst Dominique Moisi, who dined with the IMF chief in Washington three weeks ago.
Strauss-Kahn's reputation as a seducer may have titillated the French, but the actual charge of attempted rape was a shocker.
Garapon, a magistrate who trains judges, said that what surprised the French most is the "spectacular and brutal dimension of American justice." Even the vocabulary of the charges, some of which don't exist in France, like forcible touching, is less "precise" and "crude" under the French system, Garapon said.
Strauss-Kahn is charged with attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.
Some in France voiced respect for the American judicial system.
"It must be reiterated that the acts are very serious," said Ecology Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet in the daily Le Figaro. "In France, we have a tendency to treat this lightly."
Some of the charges leveled against Strauss-Kahn in the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in New York do not exist in France.
And if the case was being heard in France, the 62-year-old IMF chief might risk three to five years in prison instead of scores in the United States, a leading expert says. He also likely wouldn't be sitting in a notorious jail right now on a suicide watch.
Some in the United States, meanwhile, have expressed surprise that French media have identified the alleged victim by name - nearly unthinkable in US journalistic circles, which avoid publishing a victim's name in suspected sex crimes.
The photos of potential French president Strauss-Kahn - handcuffed, stooped, unshaven, tieless and whisked away to court before photographers - knocked the breath out of the French public. The initial response was a collective "that would not happen here."
Not in a country whose laws protect even a petty thief from flashing cameras in a public space and televised court hearings like the one broadcast Monday from Manhattan Criminal Court.
Not in a country whose traditions have long shielded the philandering of the powerful, at the risk of failing to uncover travesties of the law.
So different are French laws and mores, it is conceivable that Strauss-Kahn- innocent or guilty - failed to grasp the speed by which American justice runs its course, the weight given to alleged sex offenses and the egalitarian premise on which the US judicial system is based until he sat in the infamous Rikers Island prison.
Despite the weight of the charges, it is likely, experts say, that had the alleged hotel scene taken place in Paris, Strauss-Kahn's dignity would have remained intact.
In France, unlike the US, the judicial process takes place largely behind closed doors and the political powers-that-be hold sway over prosecutors. It is also a country where for centuries, infidelities were a royal ritual and bedroom secrets known to all were never more than court chatter. That unwritten bedroom code of silence is still largely respected, although the practice is bit by bit giving way to a demand for more public accountability.
"The French accept many more moral transgressions of their president, of their political class, of their elite. There is something ... a bit aristocratic" in French moral and legal culture, said Antoine Garapon, a magistrate and author of the book "To Judge in America and in France."
"The American culture is more democratic. You can head the IMF and be a citizen like others," he said.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski, another Frenchman, gained the status in France of a hounded hero when he was pursued by US justice authorities around the world for jumping bail decades ago on a sex crimes charge. Like Polanski, Strauss-Kahn has garnered more than a measure of sympathy in France.
Defamation
Attention in France has focused on what is seen as the travesty to Strauss-Kahn's presumption of innocence.
In France, there are no cameras in the courtroom or perp walks, when police, sometimes en route to court, parade suspects past waiting photographers. A 2000 law forbids even portraying photo images or TV film of a suspect in handcuffs to ensure the presumption of innocence.
France's audiovisual authority, the CSA, sent out a reminder on Tuesday of the French media's legal obligations. Dominique de Leusse, a lawyer specializing in defamation issues who has joined the Strauss-Kahn team, said he is considering filing a legal complaint about the images shown in the French media.
But there Strauss-Kahn was on French TV screens on Monday and fronting French papers Tuesday, the debonaire politician in his moment of ignominy.
Having Strauss-Kahn jailed "is a kind of national humiliation," said political analyst Dominique Moisi, who dined with the IMF chief in Washington three weeks ago.
Strauss-Kahn's reputation as a seducer may have titillated the French, but the actual charge of attempted rape was a shocker.
Garapon, a magistrate who trains judges, said that what surprised the French most is the "spectacular and brutal dimension of American justice." Even the vocabulary of the charges, some of which don't exist in France, like forcible touching, is less "precise" and "crude" under the French system, Garapon said.
Strauss-Kahn is charged with attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.
Some in France voiced respect for the American judicial system.
"It must be reiterated that the acts are very serious," said Ecology Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet in the daily Le Figaro. "In France, we have a tendency to treat this lightly."
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