L’application de l’article 223-1 du Code pénal en santé

Abstract

The offence of causing risks to others was one of the major innovations of the Penal Code that came into force in 1994. According to article 223-1 of the Penal Code, the act of directly exposing others to an immediate risk of death or injury likely to result in mutilation or permanent disability through a manifestly deliberate violation of a particular obligation of prudence or safety imposed by law or regulation is punishable by one year of imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros. Thirty years of application of the offence provide an opportunity to question the application of the offence of causing risks to others in the field of health. The study of case law reveals that health is resistant to criminalization. Only limited hypotheses are likely to fall under the scope of criminal repression. Faced with this observation, the idea of a legislative evolution of the criminalization of endangerment, particularly in health, has been put forward. Should we then rethink repression and to what extent?