sanction parents, the idea divides in the municipalities affected this summer

Large metal fences are still erected around the town hall of Garges-lès-Gonesse (Val-d’Oise), which burned down at the end of June. It will take two years to rebuild. “I cry for my town hall, franklycomments Aminata. It’s a symbol of the Republic, of the neighborhood!”

Mother of a 17-year-old boy, she deplores the damage caused by the rioters but cannot find “justified” of take action against parents: “I’m a little mixed on the subject. I don’t know where they’ll get the money, honestly. It’s a precarious neighborhood. The unemployment rate is high,” she argues.

Because keeping track of your teenager is not feasible for everyone, believes Jonèss, who nevertheless ensures that her 18-year-old son always comes home on time. “The parents are not guiltyhe says. There are children who turn off their cell phones when they start to do stupid things. When you do that, take responsibility!”

Several parents met between HLM bars are however in favor of financial sanctions for those deemed to have resigned. Even when one does not have custody, says Christiane, who raised her three children alone, between two part-time jobs. “A parent or two parents, wherever they are, it’s the parents, they have to pay”she believes.

“When you give birth to a child, you have to educate him. And it’s not because you work that the child has to be out there doing what he wants.”

Christiane, single mother of three children

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A key issue, agrees UDI mayor Benoît Jimenez, while 30% of the rioters this summer were minors. “The fact of having mentioned the responsibility of both parents and therefore, a fortiori, also of fathers who are very often absent, I think that is going in the right direction. I think that among all the rioters who were from single-parent families and where the second parent is often absent, a certain number are solvent.”

“We have to hit the wallet where it is possible and when it is not possible, we have to look at the alternatives. I am thinking in particular of community service, which could be one of the answers.”

Benoît Jimenez, mayor of Garges-lès-Gonesse

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“They would allow us to come and repair. I think it is important to work on the sanction and when it cannot be economical, it should be of a different order, underlines the chosen one. Measures that must be accompanied by prevention. It takes a village to raise a child.” recalls Benoît Jimenez. The role of parents is the most important but the social ecosystem must also play its role fully.”he concludes.