Curfews imposed in France to try to tame 'the wild ones'

By CATHERINE FIELD

PARIS - French cities have started to impose American-style curfews on pre-teenage children in a controversial bid to curb the spread of delinquency in the troubled suburbs.

Ten cities have rushed to impose the ban after permission was granted last month by the state council, France's top administrative court, and other municipalities are mulling whether to follow suit.

Police are authorised to detain any child under 13 found on the streets in the hours of darkness, take them home and fine their parents 230 francs ($73).

The curfews are being given a test run for the summer, the most difficult time of the year for the grim suburban housing estates that are the breeding ground for juvenile crime.

Heat, boredom and long evenings, together with high unemployment and disaffection among the children of Arab and African immigrants, are an explosive mixture.

On the night of July 14, France's national holiday, several suburbs ringing Paris became no-go areas, where rock-throwing teenagers battled police, torched more than 130 cars and in one location even ambushed firefighters.

How to cope with "les sauvageons" (the wild ones) of the suburbs has spurred anguished debate.

Opinion in France, as elsewhere, ranges from those who demand parents take responsibility for their children and those who say that delinquency is a social problem best addressed by the Government.

Over the past decade, that latter view has prevailed. Each summer, the state spends hundreds of millions of francs to provide free or subsidised seaside holidays for suburban teenagers, pays for student monitors to organise sport, art and barbecues for youngsters, screen open-air movies and take them on trips to museums.

But the opinion pendulum is now starting to shift the other way, driven by public alarm that the expensive scheme appears to have made little headway. Crime figures issued last week showed that vandalism, petty theft and assault by juveniles rose by 10 per cent last year.

Even those who have fought to have the curfew admit that the measure will not halt such crimes, as most of it is carried out by older teenagers. But, they contend, it may discourage young children from imitating their elders and it will instil discipline that in many homes is virtually absent.

"Children who hang around on the streets at night are in danger, and we must look after them," said Nicole Goueta, conservative mayor of the Paris suburb of Colombes, whose tough approach on crime helped her to end a 36-year Communist grip on the town hall in local elections in March.

"What we have to do is nip the source of evil in the bud and stop small delinquents becoming bigger ones."

Florent Montillot, deputy mayor of Orleans, the city which won the state council ruling in favour of the curfew, said he wanted a "triple therapy" of "prevention, dissuasion, and punishment or redress".

"A survey shows that 80 per cent of young delinquents lacked parental guidance and were left to their own devices. I want to prevent a generation of children from becoming delinquents by being left on the street."

Social workers and others closely exposed to daily life in the housing estates say the curfew could be ineffective at best and disastrous at worst. The measure will be hard to enforce, do little to encourage dud parents to change their ways and may simply stoke conflict with the authorities.

"It's true, there are families around here with six or seven kids who are allowed to run around and do just what they like, but do you think that handing the parents a 230-franc fine is going to help them?" said a social worker at Colombes.

A father of two, also in Colombes, said he spent all his free time with his children, "but not all the families can do that. There are people here who are unemployed, worn out and broken down. Yes, it's not right to let your kids outside, but aggressive policing by itself will not solve the problem".

Others fret that the issue is getting caught up with political grandstanding ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections next year.