<P> Later, however, the authority of the examining magistrates in France diminished in a series of reforms . In 1985, French justice minister Robert Badinter proposed limiting the examining magistrate's role in making custody decisions; Badinter's successor, Albin Chalandon made the same proposal two years later . In 1990, Justice Minister Pierre Arpaillange convened a Human Rights Commission (Justice Penale et Droits de l'Homme), led by the legal scholar Mireille Delmas - Marty . The commission concluded that France's criminal procedure code violated human rights standards, noting that the examining magistrate combined investigative and judicial powers in a single person . The commission proposed a package of due process reforms, including the abolition of the post of examining magistrate and the creation of a "liberty judge" (juge des libertés) in its place . Under the proposed system, the prosecutor and the police would have sole responsibility for conducting the investigation, and the liberty judge would be charged with overseeing pre-trial investigations . This proposal prompted an outcry from the conservative judiciary, as well as from scholars and the media; "in the context of repeated investigations of Socialist Party officials, the proposition appeared self - interested ." Less - extensive reforms were adopted instead; legislation coming into effect in 1994 provided a right to counsel for persons in police custody (garde à vue), and also transferred the decision on bail and pretrial detention "to a team of magistrates not involved on the particular case ." Almost immediately, however, opponents of the reforms mobilized, upset with the substantial changes to historic French practice; several magistrates resigned in protest . The new minister of justice, Pierre Méhaignerie, pledged repeal, and the reforms were reversed in an August 1993 law . This law repealed the right to have counsel at the beginning of police detention (but retained the right to have counsel after 20 hours of detention); restored "the powers of the' solitary' examining magistrate involved in the case to bail or remand"; and again restricted the accused's access to the investigative dossier . </P> <P> Reforms resumed, however, in 2000 with the enactment of the Guigou Law, following the issuance of the report of the Truche Commission and a French criminal procedure code revision proposal by Michèle - Laure Rassat . Among other reforms, the 2000 law abolished the power of the examining magistrate to remand defendants into custody and created a new specialized judicial officer, the judge of liberty and detention (juge des libertés et de la détention) to make these determinations . </P> <P> Renewed calls for further judicial reform to abolish or diminish the powers of the French examining magistrate intensified after a series of botched investigations, including what became known as the Outreau scandal; in that case, more than a dozen people near Boulogne were wrongfully imprisoned (and about half wrongfully convicted) on false charges of child abuse after a flawed investigation by an inexperienced juge . In 2009 and 2010, President Nicolas Sarkozy unsuccessfully attempted to abolish the examining - magistrate position as part of a broader package of legal reforms . </P> <P> Today, examining magistrates (juges d'instruction) are one of four types of French magistrates, the others being trial judges (magistrats de siège), public prosecutors (magistrats debout), and policymaking and administrative magistrates at the Ministry of Justice . Each juge d'instruction is appointed by the president of France upon the recommendation of the Ministry of Justice and serve renewable three - year terms . Magistrates "can move between these four categories, and their career prospects may be subject to the political interests of the government (although promotions must be approved by a high council of the magistrature chaired in the past by the President of the Republic and now by the president of the cour de cassation)." This arrangement has prompted criticism on the ground that the judiciary is not fully independent of the government . </P>

Who decides whether a citizen can become a magistrate