France's junior minister for the protection of children has announced a government plan to criminalise incestuous relationships between adults, extending the current ban which applies only to those that involve children, in a move that follows widespreadl controversy over the issue prompted by revelations that high-profile political scientist Olivier Duhamel sexually abused his teenage stepson.
A French police study has concluded that joint French-Israeli nationals, many of who are based in Israel, played a significant role in organised crime in France in 2018, according to a report by The Times of Israel.
Gendarmes in Frances have been testing algorithmic software to see if it will help them predict patterns of offences in their areas and thus help them to cut crime. Despite the claims made for the software, analysis by Mediapart suggests that it has had limited effect, far removed from how it is portrayed in science fiction. Nonetheless, as Alexandre Léchenet reports, the crime 'predicting' tool has now been rolled out for general use by gendarmes across France.
Inhabitants say violence is increasing, illegal immigration rates continue to rise, amid feeling that Paris pays little regard to the overseas territory.
The death earlier this month of a Chinese man after he was assaulted in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers has sparked furious protests from the local Chinese and South-East Asian populations, which are increasingly the target of gratuitous violence and robberies by gangs of youths fof other ethnic origins. The authorities and the media have largely ignored the racist attacks against the Chinese community, which has now begun to set up its own self-defence groups. Aurélie Delmas reports from Aubervilliers where the mayor warns of a powder-keg situation.
The once-prosperous textile-producing town of Lavelanet, at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains close to the Spanish border, has for decades suffered a decline that was sharply accentuated by the recent economic crisis. With dwindling public services and with a quarter of the active population unemployed, it is a mirror image of many towns across France where the loss of industrial activity has sapped the local social fabric. In this, the second of three reports from the southern département of the Ariège, Mathieu Magnaudeix finds that in Lavelanet, amid a pervading collective sense of abandonment, concern over law and order and fear of 'outsiders' dominate the conversation.
The reprisal murders that take place in Marseille regularly make the headlines and have helped fuel the idea that crime in France's major Mediterranean port city is spiralling out of control. However, as Louise Fessard reports, the crime statistics and other research tell a different story.
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