This question was closed without grading. Reason: No acceptable answer
Jan 27, 2016 09:20
8 yrs ago
French term

condamnation de police

French to English Other Certificates, Diplomas, Licenses, CVs Police record Belgium
Belgian criminal/police record. There are 3 types of conviction mentioned - "condamnation criminelle", - criminal conviction, "condamnation correctionnelle", which I assume is a minor offence, but not sure as the glossary makes no distinction between these two, and "condamnation de police" which I can't find anywhere. Is this a police caution?
Thanks.
Proposed translations (English)
3 police court conviction

Discussion

Charles Davis Jan 28, 2016:
@Jennifer No problem! Anyway, Nikki made the most important contribution here.
Jennifer White (asker) Jan 28, 2016:
@Charles I shall close the question now as the document has been sent off. Thank you for your help. Sorry I can't award points as I couldn't "accept" your original answer. Have a good day.
Jennifer White (asker) Jan 27, 2016:
@Charles Our postings crossed. Some good suggestions here!
Jennifer White (asker) Jan 27, 2016:
@Charles Yes, I saw that question but it didn't help here. Think I might now put: Criminal convictions, lesser criminal convictions and minor infringements. The fellow doesn't have any anyway!
Charles Davis Jan 27, 2016:
Another previous question on "correctionnelle" The chosen answer, "misdemeanours/less serious offences", doesn't seem satisfactory to me, since the first term seems more suited to the "police" category and "less serious" doesn't work with three categories. However, "mid-range" is another possibility, perhaps (or "medium-level", also suggested here).
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/french_to_english/law_general/2956...
Charles Davis Jan 27, 2016:
@Jennifer The more I think about this, the more I feel that it would be wise to keep the original French terms and add translations in parentheses. It seems that "correctionnelle" potentially covers a pretty wide range; no upper limit is stated. But it is clearly less serious than "criminelle".

Maybe "condamnation correctionnelle" could be "lesser criminal conviction". We had a question on this, closed without grading on the grounds of "Answer found elsewhere" (and as usual, frustratingly, the asker didn't tell us what that answer was):
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/french_to_english/law_general/2227...
Jennifer White (asker) Jan 27, 2016:
Charles and Nikki Thank you very much. It's difficult to distinguish between the second and third categories for translation purposes. I do appreciate your efforts though.
Jennifer White (asker) Jan 27, 2016:
Nikki Thank you for your hard work and research, but I'm still not sure how to translate these categories.
Nikki Scott-Despaigne Jan 27, 2016:
@Jennifer My reference post should help.
This is not about detention but about the nature of the office and notion of criminal record. It's existence in the UK means there is something on it. France, Switzerland (I believe) and Belgium have a different approach. Any citizen can apply to obtain a copy of his/her criminal record, even (and indeed usually) to show that it is empty. There is no such thing as a "empty" criminal record in the UK of course; the nearest equivalent being the fact that you have no such record. Also, it is impossible for an ordinary GB citizen to obtain any proof that he/she has no criminal record. It is a problem in France when a particular administrative application requests a copy of one's UK "casier judiciaire" although I think people are becoming more familiar with the difference.
Jennifer White (asker) Jan 27, 2016:
shabelula Yes, but actually he has no criminal convictions at all.
Shabelula Jan 27, 2016:
I would go for criminal or correctional detention for the first two, depending on the purpose of the detention, rather than for the seriousness of the crime

Proposed translations

59 mins

police court conviction

I can't find an example of "condamnation de police" in Belgium to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure it must refer to a condamnation or conviction is a tribunal de police, the lowest tier in the Belgian criminal justice system.

"Belgium has five first instance courts: Justices of the Peace, Police Courts, Courts of First Instance, Commercial Courts and Labor Courts. "
https://www.academia.edu/8942235/Belgiums_New_Specialized_Ju...

"The lowest level in civil and criminal matters consists of the Justice of the Peace Courts in civil matters and the Police Court in criminal matters. Apart from minor offences, the Police Court hears all cases involving traffic accidents."
http://www.iatj.net/congresses/Belgium.pdf (p. 2)

"Jugement
Un jugement est une décision rendue par un tribunal (tribunal de police ou tribunal correctionnel)."
http://www.policedegaume.be/Documents clients/doc/condamne.p...

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Note added at 1 hr (2016-01-27 10:22:37 GMT)
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Sorry: I meant "a 'condamnation' or conviction IN a 'tribunal de police'".

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Note added at 2 hrs (2016-01-27 12:11:14 GMT)
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Nikki's findings cast a different light on this, and it seems that "condamnation de police" refers to a conviction for which a "peine de police" was imposed. Whether this necessarily means that it was imposed in a police court I'm not sure, but I doubt it. There are sources that refer to it by a straight calque: "police sentence", "police penalty" or "police conviction", as in this article by a Belgian criminologist:

"Currently, 19 types of information are recorded, for each person, on the central judicial record, ranging from convictions (definitive) for a criminal, correctional or police sentence (including suspended ones) [...]
The decree of August 8, 1997, concerning the criminal record supposes that convictions for police penalties are erased after a period of three years after the date of the conviction. Certain police convictions nevertheless cannot be erased."
http://reflexions.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_36047/en/the-saga-of-the-c...

However, I really wouldn't advise this, at least without an explanation, because "police" makes it sound like a summary non-judicial penalty imposed by the police, like an on-the-spot fine, which is not the case.

I think the obvious translation is "minor convictions", possibly with some sort of explanatory note, possibly even with the original French term and the translation in parentheses.
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Reference comments

2 hrs
Reference:

1) Criminal record 2) Nature of offence

1) Criminal records.
In the UK, if you have a "criminal record" at all, it means there is something on it, i.e., that you have a conviction. If you have done nothing (or not been caught!), then you will have no criminal record.

In France, everyone has a criminal record : the "casier judiciaire". The nearest equivalent to the UK notion of no criminal record is the "casier judiciaire vierge".
I believe that Belgium and Switzerland work along similar lines to the French system.

France :

http://www.vos-droits.justice.gouv.fr/teleservices-10065/dem...

Belgium:

http://justice.belgium.be/fr/themes_et_dossiers/jugement_pen...


2) Nature of offence.
In the UK, the nature of the offence plays a major role in determining which court. The same is true of Belgium. Teh clue is in the terms "criminel", "correctionnel" etc.

http://justice.belgium.be/fr/themes_et_dossiers/jugement_pen...

"Le juge inflige une peine principale et peut également infliger une peine accessoire.

Les peines principales sont des peines que le juge peut infliger seules, sans peine accessoire. Il en existe en principe trois catégories :

Les peines criminelles : réclusion et détention (cette dernière peine est réservée aux crimes politiques).
Les peines correctionnelles : emprisonnement de 8 jours et plus, peine de travail de 46 heures et plus et amende de 26 euros et plus.
Les peines de police : emprisonnement d’1 jour à 7 jours, peine de travail de 20 heures à 45 heures et amende d’1 euro à 25 euros."

FYI, I did a simple search with Belgique+Criminel+Correctionnel.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2016-01-27 11:55:00 GMT)
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P.S., Like CHarles, I can find no trace of "condamnation de police" as such. I suspect that it is referring to the third category of my last reference, an official BE source.
Note that your origianl does say "condamnation" which fits well with the third category. I think it is more than a warning or a caution. It really does read as a conviction.

You might like to check with the client.
Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree Charles Davis : In the light of your findings (the fruit of research I should have done myself) I think it must mean a conviction for which a "peine de police" was imposed.
30 mins
agree Alison MacG : From another page on justice.belgium.be - les condamnations à une peine de police (c'est-à-dire à ... http://justice.belgium.be/fr/themes_et_dossiers/jugement_pen...
2 hrs
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