In principle, the police intervene as soon as they become aware of the violence. Generally, after a notification of an incident or a formal complaint.

Any person can indeed disclose facts, whatever their nature, their date and time to any public prosecutor or to the police. The person can be the victim, but also a witness of the violence.

It is recommended to report the violence to the police at the place of the offence in order to increase the effectiveness of the investigation and avoid prolonging the duration of the proceedings.

Any police station or gendarmerie unit is under a legal obligation to take a statement, preferably by means of a formal complaint, alternatively by a notification of incident (main-courante or procès-verbal de renseignement judiciaire).

• A formal complaint is an act by which a person brings to the attention of the public prosecutor, a police service or a gendarmerie unit an offence of which he/she considers himself/herself to be a victim. The quality of the investigation depends to a large extent on the accuracy of the information gathered when the complaint is collected.
• The notification of incident is a simple declaration that can be made to any national police service or gendarmerie unit; the facts reported are recorded in a register or in an online form. In principle, the filing of such notification does not give rise to any investigation or judicial follow-up. This procedure is therefore generally used to leave a written record of an event that the victim has suffered, a document that can be used in the event of subsequent legal proceedings. It will then help to trace the history of violence within the couple.

While any investigative service is entitled to receive reports of offences, the police generally try to assign these tasks to investigators specifically trained on such offences.

Since May 2019, a specific eight-hour module on violence against women is included in all initial training courses for student law enforcement officers (gendarmes).

Pursuant to Article 18 of the Grenelle Law, the government also implemented a freely downloadable application, enabling a victim of violence to obtain all useful information relating to the steps to be taken, legal and health professionals living close to his or her home and likely to help him or her, as well as associations and services ready to assist him or her in the process. 

To find out the contact details of a lawyer, the victim can contact the local bar association of the Supreme Court of his/her department. The victim can apply for legal aid (cf. 2-3-2). Finally, there are free legal consultations in most courthouses, law centers and town halls.

Regarding the representation of the victim by a lawyer during the procedure:

• Before the first-degree criminal jurisdiction ("tribunal correctionnel"), the victim has no obligation to be assisted during the procedure and can represent herself/himself. However, generally the representation by a lawyer is highly recommended for moral support and legal assistance.
• Before the Supreme Criminal Court ("Cour d'Assises"), the representation by a lawyer for the victim is mandatory. 

Domestic violence can be proven by any means, whether in divorce proceedings or when applying for a civil protection order.

If medical certificates, testimonies and minutes of complaints or notification of incidents remain extremely useful evidence. Other elements can form part of the legal recognition of the violence and in the implementation of the necessary measures.

The evidence commonly accepted may thus consist of photographs, videos, screenshots or copies of written correspondence (letters, emails, text messages, etc.) or verbal exchanges (voicemail), particularly with regard to psychological violence.

However, in civil proceedings, the evidence must be fair and lawful. An audio recording made without the violent spouse's knowledge could be declared inadmissible.

The testimony of relatives is one of the main means of evidence of domestic violence, whether physical or psychological. However, for it to be admissible, it must meet certain conditions.

Self-defense in domestic violence cases is considered an affirmative defense that defeats the legal consequences of the defendant's unlawful conduct. In order to establish self-defense, the reaction by the defendant must have been a justified and proportionate response to a current act of violence (Articles 122-5 of the Criminal Code). Accordingly, this defense will only succeed where the defendant faced a direct attack from her/his abuser (see, for example, the Alexandra Lange case (2012) where the criminal court found that her action to fatally stab her abusive husband while he was strangling her had been committed in self-defense in light of the imminent threat of death she faced) and not in the case of a reaction to recurring abuse. In particular, the French jurisdictions consider that killing in response to repeated acts of violence is not self-defense. For example, in the Jacqueline Sauvage case (2014), the court held that the defendant, who suffered 47 years of regular psychological, physical and sexual abuse by her husband, did not act in self-defense because she shot her abusive husband three times in the back. She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In a domestic violence situation, insanity and diminished mental capacity are also affirmative defenses that defeat or mitigate the legal consequences of the defendant's unlawful conduct (Article 122-1 of the Criminal Code). Certain domestic violence can be caused by a mental illness or emotional distress that inhibits sound reasoning and logic. Unlike the insanity defense, the diminished mental capacity will not absolve the defendant of all responsibility, but it may result in him or her being charged with a lesser crime.

Please refer to section 5.3.1.

Please refer to section 5.3.1.

Please refer to section 5.3.1.

Under French criminal law, every person called for an interview as a witness must attend the process and swear an oath to tell the truth of what he/she knows. Witness cannot refuse to answer the questions.

There are potential "excuses" to the law. Pursuant to Article 226-13 of the Criminal Code, witnesses bound by professional secrecy (e.g., healthcare professionals) can refuse to answer the questions in connection with an information subject to professional secrecy but pursuant to Article 226-14 of the Criminal Code, a doctor can, with the victim's consent, bring to the knowledge of the judicial authority all forms of cruelty or deprivation that he/she has observed in the exercise of his/her profession that cause him/her to believe that physical, sexual or psychological violence of any sort has been committed.

Since the law of 30 July 2020, a doctor or any other health professional who brings to the attention of the public prosecutor information relating to violence within the couple, when he or she considers in good conscience that such violence puts the life of the adult victim in immediate danger and that the victim is unable to protect himself or herself because of the moral constraint resulting from the hold exerted by the perpetrator of the violence, is authorized to waive professional secrecy.

In the most serious situations, the Code of Criminal Procedure provides protection to witnesses. They can declare their address to be that of the police station or gendarmerie (Article 706-57 of the Code of Criminal Procedure) or, where the hearing of the witness is liable to put his/her life or health or that of his/her family members or close relatives in serious danger, the judge may authorize that the witness's statements will be recorded anonymously. This procedure is only applicable to offenses punishable by at least three years' imprisonment (Article 706-58 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).

Children who witness violence and abuse by a parent against another can be called upon to testify in criminal cases but children under 16 years do not have to swear an oath before giving evidence. Courts are concerned about how hard it may be for a child to testify against a parent. The judge will thus consider whether the child wishes to be interviewed without any pressure from one parent and whether the testimony will inflict further trauma on the child. In divorce proceedings before the family judge, children cannot be heard on the grievances invoked by the spouses (Article 259 of the Civil Code).

French criminal law considers an act of domestic violence committed in the presence of a child an "aggravating circumstance," which results in a longer jail term against the offender.

 Please refer to section 5.4.1.

 Please refer to section 5.4.1.

 Please refer to section 5.4.1.

 Please refer to section 5.4.1.

Domestic violence is an aggravating factor on sentencing for criminal offences. The severity of the sentence depends on the type of offence and the circumstances of the violent act (whether the act is committed in the presence of a minor child or whether it constitutes a repeated abuse).

In the case of physical violence, penalties depend on the seriousness of the injury based on the number of days of ITT (total incapacity to work). Criminal sentencing are as follows:

• Domestic violence resulting in an incapacity to work for a period of eight days or less or does not result in any work incapacity: three years' imprisonment and a EUR 45,000 fine (and five years' imprisonment and a EUR 75,000 fine where a child is a witness) (Article 222-13 of the Criminal Code) or in the case of repeated violence (Article 222-14 of the Criminal Code).
• Domestic violence resulting in an incapacity to work for a period over eight days: five years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 75,000 and 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 150,000 where a child is a witness (Article 222-12 of the Criminal Code) or in the case of repeated violence (Article 222-14 of the Criminal Code).
• Domestic violence resulting in mutilation or permanent disability: 15 years' imprisonment and 20 years' imprisonment where a child is a witness (Article 222-10 of the Criminal Code) or in the case of repeated violence (Article 222-14 of the Criminal Code).
• Domestic violence resulting in unintentional death: 20 years' imprisonment and 30 years' imprisonment where a child is a witness (Article 222-8 of the Criminal Code) and in the case of repeated violence (Article 222-14 of the Criminal Code).
• Murder: life imprisonment.

In case of sexual violence, the offence is punished by seven years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 100,000 (Article 222-28 of the Criminal Code). Rape is punished by 20 years' imprisonment (Article 222-24 of the Criminal Code) and 30 years' imprisonment where it caused the death of the victim (Article 222-25 of the Criminal Code). The sanction is not harsher where a child is a witness.

In case of psychological violence, the penalty is three years' imprisonment and a EUR 45,000 fine if the violence resulted in an incapacity to work (stress syndrome or breakdown) to for eight days or less and up to five years' imprisonment and a EUR 75,000 fine if the violence results in an incapacity to work over eight days or where a child is a witness (Article 222-33-2-1 of the Criminal Code).

This aggravating circumstance also applies in the case of an offence of threatening (Article 222-18-3 of the Criminal Code):

• threatening to commit a felony or misdemeanor: two years' imprisonment and a EUR 30,000 fine
• threat of death: seven years' imprisonment and a EUR 100,000 fine

Alternative measures may also be considered in the case of minor isolated and nonrepetitive domestic violence, provided that it does not cause harm. They may take the form of a reminder of the law, a domestic violence training program (Article R 151-51-1 of the Criminal Code) or a penal mediation subject to the victim's consent and in the absence of a Family Court Order for Protection.

Please refer to section 5.5.1.

Please refer to section 5.5.1.

There is no legal provision regarding post-release restrictions.