A man dressed in a djellaba allegedly attacked two passers-by of Algerian nationality with a knife in Bordeaux. A few hours earlier, a 15-year-old teenager had been killed by a stabbing weapon at the other end of France, in Romans-sur-Isère.
In 2020, a survey revealed that 44,000 French people had suffered a knife attack outside their home between 2015 and 2017. This corresponds to around 120 knife attacks per day in France, says Pierre-Marie Sève, director of the Institute for Justice. The increase in crime, symbolized by the seven-fold increase in intentional assault and battery in 30 years, has well-known and commented causes, he says. The French are not mistaken: 87% of them find justice too lax, according to an Elabe survey from November 2023, says Sèves. If the causes of insecurity are diverse, taking control of criminal justice alone could make it possible to overcome it, he adds.