crime

French police investigate 'murder' with no corpse nor name

France — Link

Prosecution services in Normandy have launched a public appeal for information about a woman cyclist who police are convinced was the victim of a murder after a collision with a drunken car driver, but whose corpse has not been found and whose identity is unknown. 

French government plans to make adult incest a criminal offence

France — Link

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.

French-Israeli organised crime surges in France in 2018: report

International — Link

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 still struggle to predict future crime despite new software

France — Analysis

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.

French minister arrives in Mayotte as anger grips tropical islands

France — Link

Inhabitants say violence is increasing, illegal immigration rates continue to rise, amid feeling that Paris pays little regard to the overseas territory.

'Cold fury' mounts over racist attacks on Chinese population in Paris suburbs

France — Report

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.

Chinese police to help patrol Paris tourist destinations

France — Link

Move reflects French concern over rising number of muggings aimed at Chinese tourists, of whom a million visit France each year.

Paris police hid 16,000 crimes from records

France — Link

Official auditors discovered the cover up which they said was 'organised, systematic' under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy.

Organised crime targeting rural France

France — Link

Recent arrests show tractors, vines, crops and livestock - sometimes butchered on site - are increasingly the prey of criminal gangs based abroad.

'It's becoming like Chicago': the slide into despair and fear of a once-thriving small French town

France — Report

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. 

Will France make paying for sex a crime?

France — Link

Bill tabled by the ruling Socialist Party would make it an offence for a person to 'have recourse to prostitution', in other words to pay for sex.

French bill would criminalise paying for sex

France — Link

Proposed legislation may outlaw paying for sex in France while giving prostitutes who are victims of sexual violence easier access to legal support.

Marseille's lurid tit-for-tat killings – the real story

France

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.

French penal reform extends probation to ease jail crowding

France — Link

Justice minister Christiane Taubira also plans to remove minimum sentence guidelines for repeat offenders, as opposition decry reforms as 'soft'.

Paris suburbs shut late-night shops to fight rowdiness

France — Link

Two local authorities have enforced earlier closing times in neighbourhoods plagued by petty crime and binge drinking in public.