Gabriel Attal made the announcement during his general policy declaration on Tuesday. For the moment, only minors aged over 16 can receive community service.
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It is, according to him, a “clear principle“. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Tuesday January 30 the establishment of “educational work” for juvenile delinquents under 16 years of age, a measure close to general interest sentences, but which raises questions, particularly legal.
“I will not resign myself to preferring to wait before giving a heavy sentence, when very often, it is very early that we should have acted“, said the head of government during his general policy statement to the deputies. And for the Prime Minister, it is essential to act very early: “From a very young age, we must return to a clear principle: you break, you repair, you dirty, you clean, you challenge authority, you are taught to respect it.”
From 13 years old instead of 16
Concretely, these works of educational interest will not be penalties but educational measures which could be pronounced by a public prosecutor’s office or a juvenile judge as alternatives to prosecution, franceinfo learned this Wednesday from the Ministry of Justice.
This work of educational interest, which will concern children aged 13 to 16, will be the subject of a “Juvenile Justice” bill presented to Parliament by the government during the first half of this year 2024. They will have the content “civility”. According to the Chancellery, this will not be work strictly speaking, but for example aid to the associative world or aid for the benefit of local communities. A number of hours to be completed will be determined at the time the measurement is taken.
“Certain minors aged between 13 and 16, who have already dropped out of school and have committed offenses may need to get involved in concrete actions,” explains Matignon to franceinfo on Wednesday. “The envisaged measure consists of educational monitoring for three months accompanied by an obligation to follow education, participation in activities to raise awareness of justice issues as well as participation in a civic activity for the benefit of an association or a local community for a limited number of hours over the 3-month period of educational monitoring”.
With this measure, it will therefore no longer be necessary to wait until a minor is 16 years old to impose a community service sentence. From the age of 13, work of educational interest can now be decided on.
Wednesday January 31, Eric Dupond-Moretti provided some details on franceinfo: “Community service is work. However, international conventions prohibit us from using children to work. So what was to be done? Either nothing or take charge of the situation and ensure that minors are taken into care before the age of criminal responsibility“, explained the Minister of Justice, estimating that”We must help overwhelmed parents“.
In 2022, just over 2,000 community service sentences were imposed on minors over 16 years old. Since the week of riots which followed the death of Nahel on June 27, killed at the age of 17 by a police officer after refusing to comply, the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti has repeated that we must be able to punish young people perpetrators of damage, just like defaulting parents. Last October, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne notably indicated that she wanted to correct the “resignation“of certain parents in front of the”derivative“of their children by instituting community service sentences for those”who evade their educational duties“.
The head of government then also indicated her desire to be more severe with young delinquents, in particular by having them supervised by the military. In total, 1,180 minors had been identified by the courts as perpetrators of offenses during the riots, the Chancellery indicated. Among them, 40% were aged 13 to 15, the overwhelming majority of them boys (96%).