This is a major issue in terms of street crime.
Unaccompanied foreign minors (MNA) are driving up crime statistics in the capital.
In 2020, nearly 80% of referrals of minors to Paris concerned unaccompanied minors.
That's nearly 2,000 people.
These street children, whose real minority is often debated, were responsible for 30% of burglaries, 44% of pick-pocketing and 32% of violent thefts that same year, according to figures from the public prosecutor's office. Paris, included in the parliamentary report by Jean-François Eliaou and Antoine Savignat, made public in March 2021. The Paris police headquarters are concerned for their part about "their rise to power": between 2016 and 2020, they passed from 3 to 29% of respondents in terms of burglaries (a multiplication by 10), and from 8 to 27% for violent thefts (multiplication by nearly 4).
“Multiple Profiles”
Delinquent unaccompanied minors - who represent approximately 10% of unaccompanied minors in France, according to the Department of Judicial Protection of Youth (DPJJ) - mainly commit thefts on the public highway and in public transport, break and enter and violent robberies.
According to the Central Directorate of Public Security (DCSP), they target foodstuffs, telephones, bank cards, jewellery, scratch games, cigarettes and cosmetic products.
And rob shops, restaurants, bakeries, greengrocers, clothing stores and pharmacies.
Polydrug addicts, they can show great violence, and are often carrying bladed weapons, even handguns.
Despite recent progress, many obstacles complicate the distinction between minors and young adults, who conveniently declare themselves minors.
North Africans, mainly Moroccans and Algerians, make up the majority of this population.
“There is a lot of confusion around unaccompanied minors, who actually have multiple profiles,” warns Julie Jardin, from the Hors la rue association, which accompanies and shelters these children.
“The very young Moroccan unaccompanied minors, who appeared squatting the streets of the Goutte d'Or in 2016-2017, causing them a magnifying effect, are very visible, but ultimately quite few in number.
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