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France: The Politicization of Youth Justice (From: Comparative Youth Justice, P 48-64, 2006, John Muncie and Barry Goldson, eds., -- See NCJ-216868)

NCJ Number
216872
Author(s)
Sophie Gendrot
Date Published
2006
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines major developments in juvenile justice experienced in France in the last quarter of the 20th century.
Abstract
The article begins with a review of the historical evolution of youth justice in France, including an examination of the 1945 edict, which established the notion of “education under surveillance.” In 1958, the edict was revised to include another concept: “youth at risk,” which included the notion of youth being in risk or being a risk to society. In 1972, the first Specialized Education under Surveillance facilities for juvenile offenders opened, which were later abandoned for juvenile homes for education. The early 1980s ushered in a new period in which the Left was returned to power in France and social crime prevention policies prevailed. Despite the focus on preventing youth crime by training youth mentors to work with youth at risk, police statistics on youth offending continued to rise. During the late 1980s and 1990s, the perception of urban insecurity rose in France, which focused mainly on the ethnic minority communities marked by social exclusion and economic deprivation, and spurred a movement from a crime prevention focus to a crime control focus. This increasingly punitive crime control strategy gained momentum with the political election in 2002, which returned the Conservative faction to power in France. While the public and media continued to decry the rise in youth violence in France, official statistics are presented that show other types of youth crime were far more common than youth violence. However, the historical problems that led to the youth riots of November 2005 led to increased panic regarding the problems of youth violence in ethnic minority communities. The lack of transparency in France’s social and criminal policies is noted as a barrier to an open evaluation of justice policy in this country and, perhaps ultimately, to effective justice strategies. Figure, table, footnotes, references