While Emmanuel Macron said he wanted “better support, better accountability and sometimes better sanctions” parents of child perpetrators of violence, the Keeper of the Seals offers them a reminder of the rules. Eric Dupond-Moretti announced on Wednesday July 5 during questions to the government in the Senate that he had “wrote a flyer” to destination ” parents “ to explain “in simple terms”to those who “would have forgotten”what are their obligations.
This leaflet, consulted by Agence France-Presse, covers three “responsibilities” parents, which the minister had detailed in a circular sent Friday to the courts which called for a “strong response” against the perpetrators – many of them minors – of urban violence following the death of young Nahel M.
He mentions the civil liability of parents – “when your child steals, damages or destroys something (…)it is you, parents, who will be condemned to pay the reparations”.
Also covered is their criminal liability. “in case of breach of parental obligations”if for example ” [ils n’interviennent] not for [s’]oppose leaving the home which could be dangerous for the health or safety of [leur] child “or if they do not watch “with respect” of a night out ban pronounced by the courts.
Distributed in police stations and courts
Finally, the flyer reminds that parents have the obligation to attend a court summons for their child, otherwise they risk being brought in by the police, or being fined.
It will be distributed in all jurisdictions to be given to parents whose children are brought to justice, as well as in police stations and gendarmeries, said the chancellery.
While the executive has been insisting since Friday on the “responsibility of parents”the idea of sanctioning their supposed laxity, defended by some of the political leaders, is denounced as “simplistic” by elected officials, magistrates and family associations. They argue that society is less and less at the side of families, due to the saturation of systems intended to help them, including social workers, judges for children and maternal and child protection.