France cracks down on delinquency as parties aim to shore up law-and-order credentials

PARIS (CN) — In France, people who engage in some archetypal acts of delinquency — like street racing, drug use or illegal raves — will face harsher consequences after Parliament adopted the new Ripost law Tuesday night.

The acronym translates to “immediate responses to incidents disrupting public order, safety and the peace of mind of our fellow citizens.” Center, center-right and far-right lawmakers threw their support behind the bill, which passed in the National Assembly with 351 votes in favor versus 179 against.

“This text, built on feedback from the field, constitutes an authority shock and an efficiency shock to better respond to the phenomena that disrupt public order, the safety, and the peace of mind of our fellow citizens,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez wrote on X on Wednesday. “To those who always find an excuse for troublemakers, we choose to protect the French by strengthening sanctions and giving law enforcement more effective tools.”

Sebastian Roché, sociologist and author of “The Police Against the Street,” said widespread support for the Ripost law and a general crackdown on drug use is largely political.

The extreme-right National Rally is garnering unprecedented momentum in the 2027 presidential race, and the center and center-right could be trying to appeal to those voters by approving legislation traditionally backed by conservatives.

This is happening while the National Rally is running its de-facto normalization campaign to secure the center.

“You have center-right parties trying to radicalize themselves to capture far-right voters, and far-right leaders trying to normalize themselves in a way to capture center-right voters,” Roché said. “So you have a dual movement taking place that explains the paradoxes we are currently seeing.”

Although critics say the Ripost law seems targeted for public nuisance crimes, it coincided with a revelation from within the National Assembly Wednesday morning, when news broke that several senior officials and high-ranking cabinet workers were recently fired for failing drug tests.

“Members of ministerial cabinets and most senior officials have access to extremely sensitive information … using drugs means being vulnerable,” Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornusaid in an interview published by Paris Match Wednesday morning. “And we cannot condemn the murders of 16-year-olds in the ‘hood’ and tolerate, at the same time, consumption in ‘affluent neighborhoods.’”

The Ripost law has significantly increased penalties for drug consumption, illegal partying and unsafe behavoir considered a threat to public order.

The organizers of illegal raves could now face up to two years in prison and almost $35,000 fine, while partygoers could be fined about $8,500 and risk up to six months behind bars. Anyone who inhales laughing gas could face up to one year in prison and a roughly $4,000 fine. People who organize street racing bands could now spend three years in prison and be fined almost $90,000.

Rudy Manna, general delegate of the UNSA Police Union, praised the new law.

“I believe it’s crucial to have stricter regulations regarding the issues we face in public spaces today, like street racing, the use of laughing gas, and everything that bothers us, or — to use a stronger word — everything that is a real pain in the neck for us every day in public areas,” Manna said. “We now have the legal means to combat these behaviors and issue fines — we shouldn’t pass up a law like this when we have the opportunity to enact it.”

Manna thinks French people are tired of living with a “crime rate that is increasing day by day.”

“Let’s be honest, the people of France are fed up with living with growing insecurity — an insecurity that is escalating daily,” he said.

But some experts caution the new law is like putting a bandage on a bullet wound and could do more harm than good. A common critique is that the measure is a catchall that doesn’t address the root causes of criminal activity.

“It really raises issues regarding the expansion of police powers and all of the possibilities of issuing fines for minor offenses, for example,” Serge Slama, professor of public law at the Grenoble Alpes University and member of the Research Center of Justice and Conflict Resolution, said. “When you measure the effects of these laws over time, they are rarely very effective.”

At the heart of the debate are fixed fines for criminal offenses, known as AFDs. These were introduced in 2016 so police could issue standard penalties for certain traffic violations and avoid trials over minor offenses; the fines were expanded to cover drug use in 2019.

“[This] allows us to record the details of the person stopped for a drug-related offense in the system,” Manna said. “But instead of taking them to the police station, initiating formal proceedings, and adding to the burden on the courts, we simply issue a fixed-penalty fine.”

But the practice has sparked controversy, since a judge never weighs mitigating factors before issuing a sentence. And although people can contest AFDs, many don’t, likely in part because legal fees would be higher than the fine.

Racial profiling is also a risk.

“Police officers are completely autonomous, so they can target [specific] populations,” Roché said. “And people from poor neighborhoods and of foreign descent, who are nonwhite, are particularly targeted by police with this tool — so that, right there, is a problem.”

Slama said research has proven flat-rate fines for misdemeanors aren’t very effective and “pose huge problems for stigmatization and discrimination.”

“Police officers want this type of system because they feel like they can do something, but in reality, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the problems at hand,” he said. “It’s a frantic race to try to prove that they’re dealing with these issues.”

Under the Ripost law, officers will be able to issue AFDs for a wider range of offenses. Another key point is that now, these will appear on the “Bulletin No. 2” of a person’s criminal record, which potential employers can ask to see. This part of the bill had been scrapped but was reintroduced by Nuñez on July 15 and ultimately passed in the final version.

Roché said, “It’s very subjective and the consequences are actually very serious, because all of a sudden, a police officer causes you to have a recorded offense, a felony or a misdemeanor recorded on your criminal record.”

This isn’t the only controversial expansion of power currently being awarded to French police. On July 7, the National Assembly adopted a bill protecting the presumption of “legitimate use of force” if officers draw their weapons. Critics have nicknamed the bill “license to kill,” which Nuñez denounced.

Now, the bill is under review by the Senate. But despite the over 720,000 people who signed a petition against it, the National Assembly announced on Wednesday that it would not be up for further debate in Parliament.

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