Curfew for young people in French cities to reduce youth crime: ‘A 12-year-old child has no business being on the streets at night’

Nice also introduced such a curfew in 2009 and believes it is now necessary again. The reason is a recent series of violent and deadly incidents in France, involving minors as perpetrators and victims.

“The curfew applies to the entire city. Officers will take to the streets, track down young people and take them away if necessary,” Mayor Christian Estrosi said when announcing the measure. The children are taken to the police station or home. “When I see which dealers are on the street dealing drugs, I even wonder whether we should not also introduce the measure for 14, 15 or 16-year-olds.”

Tackling parents

Estrosi also wants to tackle the parents. ‘It is their responsibility if their child hangs out alone on the street at night. I will ask the judiciary to give parents an official warning. If it happens again, I want them to do a ‘parenting internship’ and face sanctions.”

With more than 300,000 inhabitants, the seaside resort of Nice is the largest, but not the only, French city to decide on such a measure. The southern municipality of Béziers introduced a curfew earlier this month that applies in the city center and two other neighborhoods. “A 12-year-old child has no business being on the streets at two o’clock in the morning,” said Mayor Robert Ménard, who says youth crime has gotten worse. “There used to be fights, now they immediately pull a knife.”

He also wants to tackle fathers and mothers. “The parents of the children in question may be prosecuted,” the municipal decision states.

Extremely violent attack

The French government decided last week to impose a nightly curfew for minors in the overseas territory of Guadeloupe. In Pennes-Mirabeau, west of Marseille, a ‘children’s curfew’ has been in effect since last week. They are thinking about it in Perpignan in the south of France. “We are looking at how the experiments are going in other cities,” said Mayor Louis Aliot. “If things go well there, we can do it too. The most important criterion is whether the police can restore peace and order in certain neighborhoods.”

All mayors concerned hope that their curfew is effective against youth crime. Concerns about this have increased considerably in France in recent weeks after the series of incidents. At the beginning of April, a 13-year-old girl in Montpellier suffered life-threatening injuries after being beaten up by peers. That happened at the exit of her school, when she was walking to the bus. Around the same time, a 14-year-old girl was extremely violently attacked in Tours by a group of teenagers aged 11 to 15.

There were also deaths from youth violence. South of Paris this month, a 15-year-old boy was attacked as he came home from school. He died from his injuries. Five suspects, aged 15, 17 and 20, were arrested. In northern France, a 22-year-old man was molested on the street in mid-April: he also died from his injuries. Two teenagers, aged 14 and 15, have been arrested as suspects.

Action plan against youth violence

The excesses prompted President Emmanuel Macron to call for a national action plan against youth violence. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal immediately introduced a series of measures for schools.

From now on, children in primary education must be present at school every day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Disruptors in the classroom will receive a note in their file. About 350 schools will soon receive extra security. And parents who let their children go off the rails can count on community service, Attal said.

According to critics, these are mainly measures for the stage. Figures would show that youth crime is not increasing and only constitutes a very small part of all crime. Figures on the effectiveness of curfews do not exist.

Mayors are also said to have political motives. “Béziers is governed by an extreme right-wing mayor who is populist and sows fear,” says an education union. Police unions are also critical. “A curfew is absurd and unnecessary, because it is our daily work to protect young people on the street and, if necessary, to tackle them,” responded Bruno Bartocetti of the SGP Police trade union.

Police union DNPM believes that officers are being saddled with a new and inappropriate task. “We now have to play childcare, while that is actually the job of the parents.”