“A delinquent child is a young person in danger”

What does your job as an educator at Youth Judicial Protection (PJJ) consist of?

I am responsible for young people under judicial mandate, in Caen (Calvados) and throughout Lower Normandy. I have to develop an educational project for each of them, in conjunction with psychologists and integration associations.

As soon as the juvenile judge pronounces the educational measures, the latter are placed in a structure adapted to their situation. I am one of the educators who work with young people in homes or foster families.

There are six of me, whom I see one to three times a week, in three departments. That’s quite a few hours of driving! But my days are less busy than those of the community educators. They support around 25 young people who live at home, in a more restricted area.

The PJJ is a relatively unknown service. What is its role?

It’s true, few people really know about the PJJ! This department of the Ministry of Justice supervises all young people aged 13 to 21 summoned before a judge for delinquency. Some have stolen a car, others committed violence in fights or participated in drug trafficking.

Juvenile delinquency is a symptom of a difficult background; the justice system considers that a delinquent child is a child in danger. Our teams of educators and psychologists have the role of supporting these adolescents and integrating them into society.

How can children become delinquent?

These are very often young people who come from unstable families, disadvantaged backgrounds and who have often dropped out of the school system. They suffer from emotional deficiencies, and some have suffered physical or sexual violence at home. Many come from single-parent families, where authority is harder to establish.

And, contrary to popular belief, juvenile delinquents do not all come from the estates! Some live in small villages in Orne and this is not their first crime. In any case, the environment encourages delinquency, particularly the influence of a group of friends. When you are young, it is easy to get people to turn you on.

How do you manage to connect with these teenagers?

You have to have a little patience (laughs) . With some teenagers, it works very quickly, but others are more withdrawn. We try to fill their emotional and educational gaps by organizing cultural, sports, etc. activities with them.

I also have a role as a mediator with parents, who sometimes give up in front of their children. We sometimes have to accompany them to the dentist, when their medical follow-up has been random. And I have long discussions with them to understand what can fulfill them, what job could please them…

You can get into conflict with a young person because he didn’t show up for an appointment or he doesn’t manage his training. But I can’t force him, because his reintegration depends solely on his will.

What can slow down or prevent recurrence?

There is a tipping point, but you never really know when. The turning point can come when a young person leaves their environment and is placed in a foster family, for example. It can also come from a meeting with an educator or a boss who trusts them and hires them as an apprentice.

It is not easy to ask very young people, with a chaotic background, to prepare for their future. But the recidivism rate of minors is low when they succeed in integrating.

September 30, 2024 marks the third anniversary of the juvenile criminal justice code (CJPM). What was the objective of this text?

The CJPM came into force in 2021, to make juvenile justice more efficient. Previously, a young person had to wait eighteen months after the facts, on average, to be judged.

The reform has generalized a two-stage judgment. From now on, a hearing to examine the guilt takes place within three months of the referral to the juvenile judge. The teenager then experiences a period of educational probation for six to nine months. Then there is a second hearing where the judge pronounces the sanction, depending on the evolution of the young person’s behavior.

What were the effects of this reform?

For some young people, it has positive effects. The quicker examination of guilt allows us to work with them on the consequences of their actions. We confront them with the situation of victims and it makes them think.

But for others, the reform is negative, because they are not mature enough to evolve in six to nine months. Above all, it has increased the number of hearings, and educators spend more time in court writing educational reports… They are less available to support young people. Community educators are the most affected, because they have more minors to follow.

Do you think your job is attractive enough?

It is a very good profession, but the PJJ lacks human resources. The union to which I belong, the CFDT, considers that we are under-resourced within the Ministry of Justice. Educators are a bit like shadow workers. They have a lot of young people to support and difficult hours, but their salaries are not amazing. You have to count on around 1,600 euros net per month at the start of your career, and around 2,200 euros after ten years, as is my case.

With candidates not rushing to join, our profession has ended up recruiting a lot of contract workers, which is detrimental to the stability of the teams. The unions have long been calling for a revaluation of the profession’s salaries and a review of the standards for the care of minors. In collective accommodation, there are 12 young people per home. For us, that’s too many.

The Ministry of Justice has chosen not to renew many contract positions for the 2024 school year. What will the consequences be on the ground?

The ministry did not give us precise figures, but according to the unions, around 500 positions will be missing. We learned the news on July 31, 2024 for early September! The consequences will be serious since around 30% of our positions are occupied by contract workers.

Concretely, in a collective accommodation with which I work, we already have two educators and one psychologist less. We now have to bring in a psychologist from another unit, who does not know the young people well. The educators in open environments are also hit hard. Either they agree to support five to ten more young people, or they have to put educational measures on hold.

However, 239 contracts will be renewed by October 15, according to the ministry…

He made this effort because the PJJ unions went on strike in August and a few days ago! But for us, the damage is done. This measure reflects a lack of consideration on the part of our hierarchy, and we are losing quality profiles by making our workforce precarious.

However, the PJJ budget increased by 27% between 2020 and 2024. And in the spring, Gabriel Attal had declared that he would make the fight against juvenile delinquency his “priority”. Should we see encouraging signs in this?

Unfortunately, no! The additional funding was earmarked for the creation of closed educational centres, but the budget allocated to support in open environments or in homes has not changed.

Gabriel Attal also made political announcements after fights between teenagers in Viry-Châtillon (Essonne)*. It was a question of toughening the tone in response to the feeling of insecurity that is growing in public opinion. Wrongly, since the figures for juvenile delinquency are trending downwards (read below) .

The former Prime Minister notably mentioned a project to allow the immediate appearance of minors. But in fact, it already exists! The political vision of juvenile justice is changing to move towards more control. However, we do not fight against youth delinquency by resorting to repressive measures. We must give the justice system the means to integrate these young people, who are still only children.

* A young man, Shemseddine, 15 years old, died.