Guilty Plea in France (CRPC): Should You Accept the Prosecutor's Offer?

Updated 3 November 2026

The CRPC (comparution sur reconnaissance préalable de culpabilité) is the French guilty-plea procedure. The prosecutor proposes a sentence to a person who admits the facts; if the person accepts and a judge approves it, the case ends without a full trial.

Key rules

• The person must admit the offence.
• A proposed prison term may not exceed three years nor half of the maximum sentence (Article 495-8 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure).
• A lawyer is mandatory and the right to a lawyer cannot be waived; the person may ask for ten days to consider the proposal (Article 495-8).
• The accepted sentence must be approved by a judge at a public hearing.

Should I accept?

A CRPC offers a quick outcome and a known, often lighter sentence, but it is a criminal conviction recorded on the criminal record. Before accepting, your lawyer checks the regularity of the custody and procedure, the strength of the evidence, the proportionality of the sentence and any additional penalties. If the proposal is refused or not approved, the case goes to the criminal court, and the statements made during the CRPC cannot be used there. Compare with an immediate trial.