At the end of 24 hours, the police can decide to hold onto you for another 24 hours, which the local prosecutor or judge will almost invariably authorize. Again, you will have exactly one half-hour to consult with an attorney. At the end of the 24- or 48-hour period, you may well be released without any charges ever being brought. And the subject matter of your interrogation may be nothing more than a traffic offense.
Scenarios very much like this occur on a massive scale every day in France. These procedures have only recently been invalidated by the courts, and the French government has proposed reforms that are designed to cut down upon the number of such “custodial interrogations” and to offer procedural protections for them. This article will review the laws and practices as they now stand, and the promises as well as the shortcomings of the proposed law.
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