Judging Mohammed: Juvenile Delinquency, Immigration, and Exclusion at the Paris Palace of Justice

369 Pages·2009·2.99 MB·English

by  Susan Terrio

Judging Mohammed

Judging Mohammed
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY, IMMIGRATION, AND
EXCLUSION AT THE PARIS PALACE OF JUSTICE
Susan J. Terrio
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
©2009 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Terrio, Susan J. (Susan Jane), 1950–
Judging Mohammed : juvenile delinquency, immigration, and exclusion at the Paris
Palace of Justice / Susan J. Terrio.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-5959-5 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-8047-5960-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Juvenile justice, Administration of—France—Paris. 2. Juvenile delinquency—
France—Paris. 3. Juvenile courts—France—Paris. 4. Minority youth—France—Paris.
5. Children of immigrants—France—Paris. I. Title.
HV9156.P37T47 2009
364.36089'00944—dc22 2008040715
Typeset by Westchester Book Composition in 10/14 Minion
For Sydney, Gabe, Noah, and Ben
In memory of Scott Macpherson Stapleton

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue 1
1 Are They All Delinquents? 11
2 The French Criminal Justice System 38
3 New Savages in the City? Historical and Contemporary
Representations of Juvenile Delinquency 55
4 Justice for Minors: A Minor Justice? 91
5 Getting Arrested and Going to Court 135
6 Rendering Justice in Chambers 168
7 Judging Delinquents in the Juvenile Court 217
8 New Barbarians at the Gates of Paris? The Problem of
Undocumented Minors 256
9 Conclusion 285
Notes 293
References 329
Index 347

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
completion ofa seven-year book projectnecessarily involves the accumu-
lation of numerous debts in France and the United States. It began with a sum-
mer of preliminary research in Paris in 2000, where I made initial contact with
key figures at the juvenile court and with French academics studying delin-
quency. Jocelyne Kanner, a court caseworker in Paris, introduced me to Hervé
Hamon, the president of the Paris juvenile court, and to Yvon Tallec, Hamon’s
counterpart in the juvenile prosecutor’s office. Yvon Tallec’s persistence in ne-
gotiating the labyrinth of the Justice Ministry was critical in obtaining the nec-
essary approvals for me to conduct extended ethnographic research. Sylvie
Perdriolle, director of the Office of Judicial Protection of Youth, provided the
research clearance and opened other doors. Hervé Hamon was always generous
with his time and put me in touch with Alain Bruel, Antoine Garapon,
Madeleine Sabatini, and Denis Salas, eminent jurists and judges who granted
interviews. I thank sociologist Eric Fassin for persuading Antoine Garapon to
take time out of his always busy schedule to speak with me. Sociologists Fran-
cis Bailleau, Joëlle Bordet, and Nadine Lefaucheur and political scientist Sophie
Body-Gendrot generously shared their work and made invaluable suggestions
as I defined my project in its early stages. Discussions with sociologist Dana
Diminescu in 2003 were also enormously helpful. Numerous magistrates, case-
workers, and researchers at the Office of Judicial Protection of Youth, including
Marie-Anne Baulon, Dominique Cazier, Madeleine Chami, Dominique Dray,
Marie-Colette Lalire, and Anne-Sylvie Soudoplatoff, took time to answer ques-
tions. Archivist Marie-France Barut graciously arranged for me to do research
at the Justice Ministry library. Delphine Bergère, Françoise Cataneo, Bertrand
ix