Treat, Punish, or Manage the Caseload? Drug-Using Offenders and French Criminal Justice Policy

Although France’s drug laws are among the harshest in Europe, there are a multitude of options open to prosecutors and judges that are designed to keep drug-using offenders out of prison. As caseloads have grown, however, the choice between incarceration and alternative measures that may or may not have a treatment or educational component is more heavily influenced by case management concerns. Based on a representative sample of case files and one hundred semi-structured interviews with personnel working in six French courts, this article analyzes prosecutorial and judicial practice in the face of contradictory policies and law reforms.