The minors referred after the riots are mostly unknown to the criminal justice system
Quick Look
According to public prosecutors, 90% of minors referred after the recent riots in France are unknown to the juvenile criminal justice system, which strongly limits the action of prosecutors when they are presented before the children's judge.
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Why It Matters
The article refers to the 2023 riots in France and highlights a recurring pattern regarding the profile of minors brought before the courts after public unrest.
Maurice Berger is a child psychiatrist and author, notably, of “Violent Minors, Inconsistent State. For a penal revolution” (2025, L’Artilleur). Alexandre Stobinsky is a magistrate at the Versailles judicial court.
An air of déjà vu. As in 2023 during the riots, the profile of minors referred to French prosecutors in recent days is taking shape. Most of them, according to information communicated by the public prosecutors, are unknown to the juvenile criminal justice system – 90% according to the public prosecutor of Nanterre. There are numerous referrals of high school students to court after their custody, but the legal capacity for action of the public prosecutor's office is reduced to its strict minimum due to this lack of criminal record: presentation to the children's judge with possible requests for judicial review until the guilty hearing within three months, before a sanction hearing six to nine months later. It also now appears…
Open Questions
- What is the exact number of minors referred recently?
- What measures are proposed to improve judicial intervention against first-time offenders?
- How do prosecutors plan to manage the increase in cases without criminal records?
