The government is attacking the minority excuse. Faced with the proliferation of various incidents of delinquency involving minors, “we cannot stand idly by”, assured Eric Dupond-Moretti, Friday April 19 on RTL, defending the announcements made the day before by the Prime Minister. Thursday, Gabriel Attal announced the opening of a series of projects to reform juvenile justice, during a visit to Viry-Châtillon, where a 15-year-old teenager died after being attacked as he left his college . In this case, four young men, including three minors, were indicted for “murder”.
To respond to this type of violence, the Prime Minister promised to “reestablish authority, everywhere and for everyone”. He mentioned several avenues on the judicial level, and in particular the possibility of attenuating the principle of minority excuse, which implies less severe sanctions for those under 18 than for adults. Franceinfo returns, in four questions, to the challenges of a potential reform of this legal rule.
1What is the minority excuse?
This legal principle, established by an order of February 2, 1945, endorses the idea that a minor must be punished less severely than an adult. Since this date, the children’s court and the minors’ assize court can only pronounce, against minors aged over 13, a higher custodial sentence. “half the sentence incurred” by an adult. Concretely, if the penalty incurred is life imprisonment, the minor can only be sentenced to a maximum of twenty years of detention.
This system can, however, be overridden if the minor is over 16 years old. In rare cases and depending on “the personality of the minor as well as his situation”, the minority excuse may thus not be applied. This has only happened twice since 1945. The last exception dates from 2013. Matthieu M., 19, was then sentenced to life imprisonment for having raped and killed a 13-year-old girl in 2011. He was 17 years old at the time of the events.
Young people under the age of 13 are presumed incapable “of discernment”. They are criminally irresponsible, according to article L.11-1 of the Penal Code (PDF document).
2 Why is the government tackling this?
Fighting violence against minors has become a priority for the government. Emmanuel Macron asked Gabriel Attal, during the Council of Ministers on Wednesday April 17, to launch a consultation to find solutions to the “emergence of ultraviolence”particularly among the youngest, with the objective of producing a bill before the summer.
The next day, in front of the Viry-Châtillon town hall square, the Prime Minister stressed the urgency of reforming juvenile justice. “There are twice as many adolescents involved in assault and battery, four times more in drug trafficking, and seven times more in armed robberies than in the general population”, he listed on Thursday, also targeting “Islamist entryism which is growing”.
“Authority and common rules are too often defied by certain young people”, estimated Gabriel Attal. A situation which results, according to him, from the difference between the sentences applied according to the age of the accused. “Today if two young people, one 17 years old and the other 18 years old, commit a theft (…) and they are arrested at the same time, the 18 year old could be judged and punished on same day, recalled the Prime Minister. HASwhereas for those aged 17, (…) a longer and differentiated procedure will follow.” This reinforces “the feeling of impunity among young people”judges the Prime Minister.
3 What are the avenues of reform envisaged?
The head of government rolled out a first roadmap on Thursday on the “Grenelle” violence. He charged the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, “to open the debate” on the “mitigations” has “minority excuse”. Among the ideas on the table: the possibility for minors aged 16 and over to be tried by immediate appearance in court, which is currently only possible for those over 18. “So that they have to answer for their actions and are punished immediately, like adults”assured Gabriel Attal.
“For certain crimes, I would like us to work on a penal composition measure without a judge so that minors from the age of 13, if they recognize the facts, [puissent connaître] a faster sanction”also declared the Prime Minister. “My compass is zero impunity, it’s immediate punishment for some”he added.
The Prime Minister also mentioned the implementation of educational work for those under 16 at the end of January, during his general policy declaration. He clarified on Thursday that a circular on this subject would be “signed in the coming days, for entry into force as soon as the spring break returns.”
4 What do lawyers and magistrates think?
The reforms envisaged by the government did not convince the lawyers and magistrates contacted by franceinfo. “As the texts currently stand, minors are already sanctioned” and can incur extremely heavy sanctions up to prison, recalled Meriem Ghenim, lawyer at the Seine-Saint-Denis bar.
Myrtis Vinas-Roudières, children’s judge in Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis) and delegate of the left-oriented Magistrates’ Union, also doubts the effects of a reform of the minority excuse. “I don’t think that a young person who is not deterred by the prospect of going to prison for two and a half years will be more deterred by the risk of serving five years”she told franceinfo.
Vaïté Corin, a lawyer in Martinique, even considered the idea of having young people over 16 years old tried in immediate appearance disastrous. “A minor is not a finished adult, she believes. To send him to appear immediately to be judged quickly, without taking the time to question the true motivations for his actions, is truly catastrophic.”.
For Albertine Muñoz, sentence enforcement judge in Bobigny and representative of the Magistrates’ Union, the planned reform is indeed going in the wrong direction. In his department, young people presented to justice have “above all, you need support”estimates the magistrate.