As part of the government’s response to the ongoing riots in the country, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that parents of children found vandalising or stealing should be fined.
The justice ministry reported that more than 1,200 of the approximately 4,000 persons arrested since Friday were under the age of 18.
On Monday night, Macron met with Paris police officers and commended them for their service while also proposing swift consequences for parents who fail to discipline their children.
“With the first crime, we need to find a way of sanctioning the families financially and easily,” he said, according to comments reported by the Parisien newspaper.
The 45-year-old head of state said it would be “a sort of minimum price for the first screw up”.
Last Friday at the height of the unrest, Macron had urged parents to rein in their children.
This came after the detention of rioters as young as 12 after the breakdown in law and order caused by a police shooting that killed a teenager in Paris.
“It’s the responsibility of parents to keep them at home,” Macron had said. “It’s not the state’s job to act in their place.”
The same message was emphasised on Friday by the French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti, who also explained how parents are already held legally responsible for their children.
He said that failing to accompany their children to court appearances might already result in fines for parents.
They were also financially liable for any compensation granted to a juvenile crime victim.
Prosecutors were also informed of Article 227-17 of the Penal Code, which already permits fines against parents, as per legal advice provided by the Minister.
