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France : un rapport prône la prison à 12 ans


Un rapport proposant d’avancer à 12 ans l’âge légal d’un possible placement en détention en France a suscité des critiques du Syndicat de la magistrature (SM), classé à gauche. Ce rapport, dont les conclusions sont publiées dans La Croix et Le Parisien, vendredi 28 novembre, a été rédigé par une commission de réflexion installée, en avril 2008, par Rachida Dati [ministre de la Justice] pour réformer l’ordonnance de 1945 sur la justice des mineurs. Déjà modifié trente-et-une fois, ce texte prévoit des peines atténuées pour les mineurs et déclare que l’éducatif doit primer sur le répressif.

Le rapport permet la prison à 12 ans en fixant la responsabilité pénale à cet âge, ce qui signifie qu’en-deçà ne seraient possibles que des mesures éducatives. Le système français actuel ne prévoit aucun âge, la responsabilité étant appréciée au cas par cas suivant le "discernement". Certains pays européens ont un âge déterminé pour l’âge minimal de mise en détention, d’où la réflexion, mais il est souvent à 14 ans. Le rapport propose même des dérogations possibles jusqu’à 10 ans. Il propose aussi des sanctions plus rapides et plus fermes. L’âge de la majorité pénale -le moment où le jeune délinquant encourt la même peine qu’un adulte- resterait à 18 ans, sauf pour les multirécidivistes où il passerait à 16 ans.

"Il est clair qu’on est dans cette politique du tout-pénal qui oublie complètement qu’un mineur peut être un délinquant, mais qu’il est surtout un être en construction. On ne peut pas dissocier la politique pénale de la politique éducative", a dit à Reuters la présidente du Syndicat de la magistrature, Emmanuelle Perreux. Selon Emmanuelle Perreux, les membres de la commission de réflexion sont divisés, ce qui explique le retard d’un mois pris pour la remise du rapport. Elle conteste les fondements de la réflexion. "Les mineurs sont les mêmes qu’hier. Ce qui change, c’est le contexte économique et social. Ce discours ambiant qui consiste à dire que la délinquance des mineurs augmente est un faux discours", a-t-elle dit. Des sociologues contestent en effet la thèse d’une supposée hausse de la violence chez les jeunes, estimant au contraire que leur part dans la criminalité générale baisse.

La ministre n’a pas souhaité s’exprimer sur les conclusions et ne le fera que pour la remise officielle du document, mercredi 3 décembre, a dit son porte-parole, Guillaume Didier. En avril, en installant la commission, la ministre se plaçait clairement dans la perspective d’une sévérité accrue, nécessaire, à ses yeux, pour répondre à ce qui est décrit comme une explosion de la délinquance des plus jeunes. Le contexte politique a changé, depuis l’installation de la commission. Une vague de suicides, notamment de plusieurs mineurs, a frappé ces dernières semaines les prisons [françaises], au bord de l’explosion avec 63 750 détenus pour 50 000 places. Rachida Dati a été par ailleurs vivement critiquée, jeudi 27 novembre, par le Conseil supérieur de la magistrature, pour avoir mis en cause à tort des magistrats après le suicide d’un détenu mineur, à Metz, en octobre 2008.


Ci-dessus : Une cellule à la prison pour mineurs de Meyzieu, France

Source : Reuters
Dessin de presse : Chimulus

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