Skip to main content

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

Comments

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

China executes 11 members of gang who ran billion-dollar criminal empire in Myanmar

China has executed 11 members of the notorious Ming family criminal gang, who ran mafia-like scam centers in Myanmar and killed workers who tried to escape, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.  The Ming family was one of the so-called 4 families of northern Myanmar — crime syndicates accused of running hundreds of compounds dealing in internet fraud, prostitution and drug production, and whose members held prominent positions in the local government and militia aligned with Myanmar’s ruling junta. 

Florida | Man convicted of leaving girl to be eaten by gators avoids death penalty

After about 4 hours of deliberations, jurors on Friday recommended Harrel Braddy should be sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of 5-year-old Quantisha Maycock.  A South Florida man who dropped off a 5-year-old child in the Everglades to be eaten alive by gators nearly 3 decades ago was given a second chance at life as jurors recommended he should spend the rest of his life behind bars instead of being sent to death row. After about four hours of deliberations, jurors on Friday recommended Harrel Braddy should be sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of 5-year-old Quantisha Maycock. 

Federal Judge Rules Out Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione in UnitedHealth CEO Killing

NEW YORK — A federal judge has dismissed two charges against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, effectively removing the possibility of the death penalty in the high-profile case.  U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled Friday that the murder charge through use of a firearm — the only count that could have carried a capital sentence — was legally incompatible with the remaining interstate stalking charges against Mangione.

Georgia parole board suspends scheduled execution of Cobb County death row prisoner

The execution of a Georgia man scheduled for Wednesday has been suspended as the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considers a clemency application.  Stacey Humphreys, 52, would have been the state's first execution in 2025. As of December 16, 2025, Georgia has carried out zero executions in 2025. The state last executed an inmate in January 2020, followed by a pause due to COVID-19. Executions resumed in 2024, but none have occurred this year until now. Humphreys had been sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, who were fatally shot at the real estate office where they worked.

California | Convicted killer Scott Peterson keeps swinging in court — but expert says he’s not going anywhere but his cell

More than two decades after Laci Peterson vanished from her Modesto, California, home, the murder case that captivated the nation continues to draw legal challenges, public debate and renewed attention. As the year comes to a close, Scott Peterson, convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife and their unborn son Conner, remains behind bars, serving life without the possibility of parole. His wife disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002, and a few months later, the remains of Laci and Conner were found in the San Francisco Bay.

Death toll in Iran protests could exceed 30,000

In an exclusive report, the American magazine TIME cited two senior officials from the Iranian Ministry of Health, who stated that the scale of the crackdown against protesters on January 18 and 19 was so widespread that 18-wheeler trailers replaced ambulances. In its report, based on testimony from these two high-ranking officials, TIME revealed statistics that differ vastly from the official narrative of the Islamic Republic.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester.  Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The US reporter who has witnessed 14 executions: ‘People need to know what it looks like’

South Carolina-based journalist Jeffrey Collins observed back-to-back executions in 2025 after the state revived the death penalty following a 13-year pause Jeffrey Collins has watched 14 men draw their final breaths. Over 25 years at the Associated Press, the South Carolina-based journalist has repeatedly served as an observer inside the state’s execution chamber, watching from feet away as prison officials kill men who were sentenced to capital punishment. South Carolina has recently kept him unusually busy, with seven back-to-back executions in 14 months.

Florida's second execution of 2026 scheduled for February

Florida’s second execution of 2026, a man convicted of killing a grocery story owner, will take place in February. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant Jan. 23 for Melvin Trotter, 65, to die by lethal injection Feb. 24.  Florida's first execution will take place just a few weeks earlier when Ronald Palmer Heath is set to die Feb. 10. Trotter was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1987 for strangling and stabbing Virgie Langford a year earlier in Palmetto. 

China executes another four members of powerful Myanmar-based crime family

China has executed another four members of a powerful Myanmar-based crime family that oversaw 41 pig butchering scam* compounds across Southeast Asia.   The executed individuals were members of the Bai family, a particularly powerful gang that ruled the Laukkai district and helped transform it into a hub for casinos, trafficking, scam compounds, and prostitution.  China’s Supreme People’s Court approved the executions after 21 members were charged with homicide, kidnapping, extortion, operating a fraudulent casino, organizing illegal border crossings, and forced prostitution. The court said the Bai family made over $4 billion across its enterprise and killed six Chinese citizens.