 The decision on whether to correctionalise a "crime" is taken by the council chamber (, , ) of the tribunal of first instance at the end of a judicial investigation, or during the indictment proceedings before the chamber of indictment (, , ) of the court of appeal (see further below).In practice, most crimes except for the most severe ones are correctionalised due to the heavy burden an assizes trial imposes on the judicial system.This heavy burden is caused by, amongst other factors, the fact three judges need to be temporarily discharged from their other duties, the amount of witnesses that are often made to testify, and therefore the long time an assizes trial can last (some high-profile ones can even last for months).