Youth Violence in French Banlieues

 

"[The curfew] allows us to take preventive action before damage is done." 

"They [arrested teenagers] weren't punished and came back and started vandalizing and stealing again."

Anthony Rouet, head, municipal police, Triel-sur-Seine, France 

 

"[The problem of] applying the law in certain poor neighbourhoods like Pissevin in Nîmes remains." 

"The level of delinquency and criminality, whether economically motivated or not, makes police action difficult." 

Thomas Sauvadet, sociologist, expert on youth delinquency, Paris Est Créteil University 

 

"[The curfew is of course] a communication strategy on the part of the public authorities."

"They need to show they are doing something."

"A curfew is not easy to enforce in neighbourhoods where the police only intervene in an offensive mode, and in urban configurations where their presence is quickly spotted by lookouts who alert the drug dealers."

"Let’s not forget that it’s easier for drug dealers to involve young people in their business because there are many teenagers in these poor neighbourhoods who left school early and have no qualifications."

"Their parents are part of the 40 percent of the French population who can’t afford to leave their homes to go on vacation, and they see this activity as ‘a way out’, or at least as a way to live a little better." 

"The level of impunity is truly worrying. It terrifies inhabitants – and rightly so. And the youths who possess firearms and use them are generally over 16 [an age group not included in the curfew]."  

Laurent Mucchielli, sociologist, research director, France's national research centre (CNRS) specializing in delinquency and security policy 

Municipal police patrol a street in the southern French city of Nice after a nighttime curfew for children under 13 was implemented by decree, April 2, 2024. Valery Hache, AFP

 

A curfew for teens has been imposed in a number of French cities this summer in the hopes this will help to curb youth violence. Some experts feel the minors curfew will do nothing to reduce crime, but there is at least one French mayor who thinks otherwise. Mayor Cedric Aoun of Tiel-sur-Seine, some 35 kilometres west of Paris, stated: "It's become very quiet", of the 11 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew for under-18s. A series of incidents involving damage of public property and theft led to the imposition of the curfew.

As a result, according to Mayor Aoun, many families have been convinced they must begin taking parental responsibilities more seriously. "Parents are much more careful", he claims. Irrespective of the political perspective of their mayors, an increasing number of French towns are enforcing curfews for teenagers, in seeking a response to youth crime.

A temporary curfew was introduced in the southern city of Nimes, for children under 16 following a number of urban violence incidents linked to drug trafficking. In the southeastern suburbs of the French capital -- Beziers, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine north of Paris and Villecresnes in the southeast have adopted similar bans on youth roaming about after dark.

 

Six percent of crimes last year were thought to have been carried out by teens aged between 13 and 17, according to the interior ministry, with over a third of violent robberies without weapons attributed to suspects in that age group. Still, there is difficulty in assessing effectiveness of the curfews for minors.  

 

More towns in France are enforcing curfews for teenagers as authorities seek to respond to youth crime (Valery HACHE)

Officers stopped a group of minors during a recent nighttime patrol in Triel-sur-Seine who had huddled together in a square, 45 minutes after the start of the curfew, claiming they were unaware of the curfew. Anthony Rouet, head of Triel-sur-Seine's police reported his team had for the most part spoken with teens about the nighttime ban on being out in the streets, but hadn't yet had occasion to issue tickets, while acknowledging that when police did report some teens to the judiciary, this had not had the desired effect of deterring them from reoffending.

Rights campaigners on the other hand, argue for more community engagement in place of bans. The French Human Rights League has taken legal action against the ban in Triel-sur-Seine. "This is not an effective response" said Nathalie Tehio, head of the League, calling for development of "educational measures" instead of "repressive" bans.

Authorities in Nîmes have said extra police officers will be called in   Getty Images