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PARIS - France is joining the lengthening line of countries introducing tough measures against sex offenders after a paedophile abused a 5-year-old boy less than two months after completing a 17-year jail term for child rape.
Unlimited detention of dangerous paedophiles and voluntary "chemical castration" of repeat offenders are among the proposals outlined by President Nicolas Sarkozy after meeting the boy's father.
"We must stop giving predators their freedom," Sarkozy said bluntly.
Police say the offender, Francis Evrard, was arrested shortly after raping his victim in a lockup garage on August 15 in the city of Rouen.
Evrard, 61, had previously been sentenced three times for sex offences - a 15-year term for indecency in 1975; a four-year term in 1985 for the same crime; and a 27-year term in 1989 for raping a 15-year-old. He was released each time after serving the required minimum of two-thirds.
The conditions for his latest release were that he had to advise the authorities whenever he travelled beyond Rouen, to avoid contact with minors and to undergo hormone treatment to reduce his sex drive. His first medical appointment had been set for Friday.
Before his release, psychiatrists categorised Evrard as having "a very high level of risk" of repeat offending and warders in the jail at Caen say they warned the prison governor that he was a highly dangerous individual.
News reports, though, say Evrard benefited from extraordinary laxness by the jail authorities. He was allowed to surf the internet in his cell and even downloaded paedophile images on his computer, for which he was given additional punishment.
Yet more astonishing is that just before he was released, a prison doctor, without being aware of his record, prescribed him Viagra, which he took just before the assault on the child.
"He was a wild animal who was released and allowed to feast," says Mustafa Kocakurt, whose son, Enis, was abused.
The scandal has thrown down a challenge to Sarkozy, who forged a reputation for toughness while Interior Minister and made law and order a key plank of his election platform.
Sarkozy, who chaired an emergency meeting of his inner Cabinet, spelt out a range of new measures, several inspired by the experience of Britain.
Sex offenders would serve all their term and paedophiles considered by a panel of experts to be a danger to the public would be incarcerated beyond their term in a special high-security hospital, the first of which would open in Lyon in 2009.
"Chemical castration" would be offered to paedophiles on a voluntary basis, said Sarkozy.
Researchers in Paris are testing on 48 paedophile volunteers two powerful testosterone-lowering drugs, Androcur and Enantone, which are licensed for treating prostate cancer.
But they stress that the drugs, administered by daily tablets or monthly injections, have to be taken with the consent of the patient and be backed by psychiatric treatment.
"The sexual craving does not disappear for good. It returns if the treatment is stopped," says Dr Serge Stoleru.
Other measures being considered include widening the use of electronic bracelets to track the whereabouts of released offenders, a system that has been on trial since last year, and giving law enforcement agencies wider access to a fledging database on sexual offenders.
Some legislators are calling for laws enabling citizens to see if a convicted paedophile lives in their area - a scheme widely in use in the United States and adopted partially in Britain.
But in the midst of this storm, other voices are calling for a more reasoned approach, fearing a paedophile witchhunt of the kind whipped up by the British tabloid press.
"Failures of justice are often more caused by the people who work in it rather than as a result of legislative gaps," noted the conservative Le Figaro newspaper.
It said France's judicial budget, at €5 billion a year, was less than half that of neighbouring Germany, which, like the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries, keeps round-the-clock tabs on released offenders and ensures they are treated.
France's creaking judicial system does not have the medical staff or administrative personnel to do the same.
"Laws exist," the daily said. "The question is to ensure they are carried out and that the resources are there for implementing them."
