“For several months, justice has not paid legal experts.” THE Psychologist Lucien Cavelier33 years old, legal expert Near the Amiens Court of Appeal, becomes a whistleblower for his profession. Since the beginning of November, he has been waiting for more than € 30,000 for his legal expert missions to the three courts of Oise (Compiègne, Senlis and Beauvais).
Originally from Vaucluse, who had arrived in the Oise since 2021, he installed his office in the district of the School of General Staff of Compiègne. Judicial expert mandated for the past two years the court of appeal, he works with the prosecution of Senlis, Beauvais and Compiègne. “I respond favorably to the requests of the three parquets of the Oise,” says the legal expert. But also those of dozens of judicial police officers, investigating judges and children’s judges. They need my services and I do not refuse almost no mission, for the good of the litigants and by sense of duty. But I am almost volunteer. “
“Quickly, I found myself overwhelmed,” he says. To meet the demands of the courts, I very little develop the liberal side of my activity. This is the case for many experts. Languages are delighted. “
“The system plays on the meaning of the sacrifice of the expert”
Lucien Cavelier says he exercises this profession by passion. “I find myself in an ubiquitous situation, which collides in the sense of honor of the expert,” he notes. It is impossible, humanly, to refuse a mission concerning a child potentially victim of sexual assault or rape … “
A legal expert has the right to refuse a mission. “If I refuse, I know that the policeman, the gendarme or the magistrate, will have difficulty finding a psychologist. This system plays on humanity and the total sacrifice of the expert to make justice work. ”
“My job as an expert confronts me with difficult cases all day: victims and perpetrators of rape, domestic violence and on children, daily interventions in prison or in police custody for acts of various crimes. From now on, I have to add to that the stress of the end of the month and the fear of not being able to pay the rent of my office. ”
“If I stop, I paralyze justice”
However, he is one of the most requested experts in the Oise, with nearly 400 referrals per year. “Dozens of legal proceedings could not move forward without my psychological expertise,” he recalls. If I stopped working, this would paralyze many files in the courts. ”
There are four psychologists for the Oise. “Ideally, it would take a minimum of twenty, to work serenely and not be overwhelmed,” he believes. Nothing is done to stem this shortage. Experts who embark on the adventure find themselves taken in the vice between reality and their love of justice and the interest of the litigant. ”
The risk is real, in the eyes of Lucien Cavelier, that fewer and fewer psychologists turn to the judiciary. A situation mainly due to unpredictable payment deadlines: from thirty days, to six months, or even a year. “At the same time, URSSAF and taxes continue. Not to mention the constant costs, in connection with not remunerated missions. ”
“Private socio-judicial associations may replace legal experts”
“If the profession of expert disappears, private socio-judicial associations will replace it, alerts the Compiegish psychologist. While their employees have neither training nor experience. It already works a bit like that in the Oise. ” We would enter a commercial logic.
According to Lucien Cavelier, judges prefer to seize experts with the court of appeal. “Experts at the Court of Appeal have the duty to train every year and to be as close as possible to the changes in science and tests of the tests,” he explains. The expert has the duty to evolve permanently. There is a duty to protect them. Otherwise, it will be the reign of socio-judicial associations, without any possible control. ”
Legal expertise is a specialty. Every three years, professionals are subject to an assessment of the Court of Appeal. An expert must be able to assess the psychic impact of the facts that the victim denounces (using tools validated by science). Likewise, for an author, he assesses the course, the personality, the minimum intelligence … “These skills are not recognized financially,” notes psychologist Lucien Cavenier, who works from Monday to Saturday.
“Constant pressure”
All with constant pressure. “We are systematically alone with the respondent, sometimes locked up for a violent crime,” he explains. We carry out a constant analysis of the situation to find out if it is advisable to put an end to the interview. We are faced with human violence. But that’s the job. There is now this economic violence, which prevents making its job. ”
Their passion pushes experts to continue. “The challenges are constant,” he explains. We can see a hundred victims of domestic violence, there will be a hundred different analyzes. We have the clinical challenge to individualize expertise, which comes up against the reality principle. He will enter into the equation and will push us to compromise. ”
The minimum duration for psychological expertise is an hour and a half. It is on average two or three hours. A duration to which is added the editorial staff, which can vary between four and eight hours. “I have between 100 and 150 pending files,” he calculates. I have between five and ten new ones per week. I make between three and ten reports per week. ”
If the payment delays persist, the psychologist will have “for a year or two”. “We can no longer work properly,” he concludes. We go straight in the wall. “
