Many actors were gathered to fight against the phenomenon of gangs -

Valery HACHE / AFP

  • A meeting was held this Monday at noon between the ministers of the Interior, Justice, National Education, the prefects of Ile-de-France, rectors and prosecutors on the phenomenon of brawls between rival gangs.

  • Sociologist Véronique Le Goaziou believes that in the field this phenomenon is struggling to be treated other than "through a police or judicial prism".

  • "There are a number of incredible devices to fight against juvenile delinquency, but most of them are not applied, or poorly applied", regrets the CNRS researcher.

A black series as tragic by its outcome as by the age of its protagonists.

In less than a week, two schoolchildren were stabbed during brawls in Essonne and a third, 13 years old, was very seriously injured.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, in 2020, 350 clashes between rival gangs were recorded in France, including 186 in Ile-de-France alone.

To try to apprehend this phenomenon, the Ministers of the Interior, Justice and Education met this afternoon with the prefects of all the departments of Ile-de-France, the rectors and the prosecutors.

Sociologist Véronique Le Goaziou, researcher at the CNRS and author with Laurent Mucchielli of

La violence des jeunes en question

 despairs to see these consultations lead to concrete actions.

What did you expect from this meeting?

We are now talking about this phenomenon thanks to the events of last week, but it is nothing new: already under Mitterrand, there were consultations between different actors on this subject.

The problem is that each time, in the field, the police and judicial option prevails.

As if violence could only be resolved through this prism.

However, this phenomenon is a fundamental problem which mixes multiple issues.

These territories are the crucible of our dysfunctions and our failures.

There is growing precariousness, a renunciation of academic success, a culture of violence, a grip on social networks ... At the same time, there are fewer and fewer local actors: educators, social workers are under - staff, neighborhood associations are being withdrawn from subsidies ... We must succeed in breaking this inter-self of neighborhoods and promote proximity.

How do you get there?

Let's implement what already exists!

There are a number of incredible devices to tackle juvenile delinquency, but most of them are not applied, or poorly applied.

As if all the energy was going into the development of these plans and not their implementation!

We hear a lot that these gang phenomena are very difficult to prevent, especially because they start from small incidents and gain momentum on social networks.

Yet investigations into recent events seem to show that some conflicts dated back several weeks or even months.

But if there are no longer any players - or too few - in the field, how can we imagine intervening upstream?

What role does National Education have to play?

A fundamental role.

School is one of the main places where young people live and teachers are often good observers of it.

They are the ones who will be the first to detect tensions and changes in behavior.

They are on the front line.

We also observe a significant correlation between delinquent careers and school dropout.

We must therefore manage to keep children and adolescents in the bosom of the school as long as possible.

This can go through lessons of course but also through all extracurricular activities in connection with social workers, mediators.

How to explain the rejuvenation of the minors participating in these fights?

Many professionals do indeed report the general rejuvenation of the members of these bands.

In some areas, adolescents and sometimes even older children aged 9 to 11 are bathed in an almost saturated state of violence: between what they observe in their neighborhood, at home and today on social networks, their moments of lightness are reduced.

They are pressure cookers ready to explode at any time.

In the field, the educators tell us, they start straight away, where they were going to come to blows before, they take out a weapon more quickly.

Should we also go back to community policing?

In any case, the experience needs to be tried again, but on condition that it is not yet another mission among others.

We need officials who know the specificities of the neighborhood, its inhabitants.

The band phenomenon is complex and needs to be understood over a long period of time.

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Aggression of Yuriy: What reality behind the phenomena of gangs?

  • Delinquency

  • Rival bands

  • Violence

  • Brawl

  • Paris

  • Society