NCJ Number
171078
Date Published
1997
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Research findings on minorities, crime, victimization, and criminal justice in France are discussed, with emphasis on the characteristics of the immigrant population, its proximity to areas of high unemployment and crime, and its involvement with the criminal justice system.
Abstract
Census data reveal that 6.3 percent of France's population consists of noncitizens (etrangers). However, more recent estimates are higher. The largest groups of immigrants are from Algeria and Morocco. The rate of unemployment in the noncitizen population was over 19.5 percent in 1990. The areas with high crime rates are also the areas with high proportions of noncitizens, although the data do not make clear the role of the minority population in crime. The available data indicate that their criminal involvement consists mainly of less serious, nonviolent incidents. However, the visibility of noncitizens undoubtedly contributes to their scrutiny by police agencies, to their provisional detention, and to their longer-term incarceration in French prisons. The size and poverty of minority populations have emphasized the problems of inequality, produced ethnic antagonism, and contributed to criminal justice efforts and exclusion movements to reduce their visibility and protect the cultural heritage of the majority. In the 1980s noncitizens became the target of both political campaigns and of criminal justice authorities. The available data suggest that criminal justice resources are being directed toward an effort to reduce the visibility of its noncitizen population and protect the French way of life. However, data indicating noncitizens' general lack of involvement in serious crime hold promise for the conclusion of the integration advisory council that noncitizens can have a positive role in France in the right circumstances. Tables, map, and 26 references