"Ensauvagement": are acts of violence really increasing in France?

DECRYPTION

Is a wave of violence really sweeping over France?

After a summer punctuated by several striking various facts, the use of the term "ensauvagement", long limited to the extreme right, is now in vogue in a part of the right and has been taken up by the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin.

However, he continues to divide the executive.

But what do the numbers say?

"The statistics of intentional homicides show that we are today at a historically low level of violence," said Sebastian Roché, sociologist specializing in delinquency and security, invited to Europe 1 on Saturday.

The "civilization of manners" reduces violence

The statistics of intentional homicides are one of the two main tools used in France to measure violence, the second being victimization surveys, which focus on victims.

"These show that physical violence is decreasing, as well as thefts with violence," points out the sociologist.

To explain it, he calls for a "civilization of manners", in progress "for several centuries already".

“People are increasingly rejecting violence,” he said.

In France, only the numbers of burglaries and online fraud are still increasing. 

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So why do we speak more and more commonly of "wildness"?

"There is no contradiction with the various facts of this summer. The fact of feeling emotion in relation to violence, that is the civilization of manners. The fact that one is concerned, that researchers are mobilized to measure it. All this exists because we think that violence is a problem, "explains Sebastian Roché. 

For him, Gerald Darmanin using this term criticized in particular by the left "tries to create a line of cleavage".

"It's pretty classic. Violence is a very important political issue, often activated near an important election," he analyzes.

And concludes: "There is in France no mechanism of exaggeration."