French lycée students are justly demanding better learning conditions. The authorities respond with promises of reform and, in some cases, with police intervention. Observing what is happening, it is quite difficult to determine where the line runs between the right of minors to protest and responsibility for breaking the law.

The French autumn turned out to be turbulent. Since late September, the country has been swept by a broad wave of protests by lycée students. Here it should be explained that in France, lycée students are upper-secondary school pupils, as a rule, aged 15 to 18. At lycées, teenagers may receive, by choice, general, technological, or vocational education. So, lycée students are blocking entrances to educational institutions, taking to demonstrations, demanding less overcrowded classes and decent learning conditions, as well as fully staffed teaching personnel. Incidentally, in recent years the prestige of the teaching profession in France has noticeably declined, which undoubtedly also affects the quality of education.

The movement has been going on for three weeks now. The protests have covered Paris, Marseille, Rennes, Nantes, and other cities. According to the French Ministry of Education, on the morning of October 8, 224 educational institutions were closed; by midday their number had dropped to 157.

It is obvious that the events have long since gone beyond the framework of an ordinary school conflict. Alongside peaceful demonstrations, there are arson attacks on garbage containers, damage to property, and clashes with police. There are reports of thousands of detentions and of injured persons, including among minors.

In this situation, a question arises that is of interest far beyond France: how should the law respond to teenage protest if it is accompanied by unlawful actions?

THE RIGHT TO PROTEST DOES NOT EXEMPT FROM RESPONSIBILITY

The French legal system recognizes freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and minority status in itself does not deprive a person of these rights.

However, participating in a demonstration, blocking access to an educational institution, and committing violent acts are not legally identical situations. Each of them requires its own separate assessment.

For example, the mere fact that a teenager is near a burning garbage container does not prove his or her involvement in the arson. Likewise, police detention does not yet mean the establishment of criminal guilt.

This distinction takes on particular significance in the context of mass protests, when the actions of individual participants are often perceived as a characteristic of the entire movement.

A TEENAGER ANSWERS BEFORE THE LAW

In France, there is a special Code of Criminal Justice for Minors – the Code de la justice pénale des mineurs, which entered into force on September 30, 2021. It replaced the historic ordinance of 1945 (a normative legal act that laid the foundations of post-war legislation).

Its Article L11-1 establishes the following principle: a minor may bear criminal responsibility if he or she has the capacity to understand the nature of his or her actions (discernement). At the same time, the capacity for understanding presupposes not merely comprehension of the act committed, but also the ability to grasp the meaning of criminal proceedings.

Thus, children under 13 are presumed not to possess such capacity. Nevertheless, for teenagers aged 10 to 13, the police may apply a special form of temporary detention, which lasts a maximum of 12 hours. The participation of a lawyer and a doctor is mandatory in this case, and parents must be notified immediately.

The French model of criminal justice for minors is built on a special approach to the personality of the teenager. Article L11-2 of the Code defines the educational and moral rehabilitation of the minor, the prevention of repeat offenses, and the protection of the interests of victims. This norm enshrines a principle fundamental to French justice: the predominance of educational measures over punitive ones.

Article L11-3 permits the application of educational measures and, where relevant circumstances exist and taking into account the personality of the minor, also criminal punishments. Consequently, the educational orientation of justice does not mean impunity. But neither does the commission of an offense turn a teenager into a diminished copy of an adult criminal.

Age, personality, the circumstances of the act committed, and the prospects for correction are of fundamental importance.

PROTECTING THE TEENAGERS THEMSELVES

The French protests have also raised the reverse question for society: what are the limits of the state's use of force?

Human rights organizations have reported cases of excessive use of police means against minors. The authorities, in turn, point to violence and damage to property during certain actions. However, the assessment of the lawfulness of police actions cannot be replaced either by public outrage or by reference to the need to maintain order. It requires establishing the facts and verifying the necessity and proportionality of the force applied.

And here the same fundamental principle applies: the age of the participants in the events does not cancel their duties before the law, but at the same time requires special attention to the protection of their rights.

School protests in France are still ongoing, and it is premature to draw final conclusions about their consequences. But even today they allow us to see one of the most complex tasks of a modern rule-of-law state.

A teenager may be a participant in a social movement, a violator of the established order, a suspect in the commission of a crime, and sometimes also a victim of unlawful actions. But in all these situations, he or she remains a minor whose rights and interests require special legal protection. It is precisely the ability to distinguish these legal statuses – without conflating protest with crime, or education with impunity – that becomes a test of the maturity of the legal system and of society as a whole.

Dilyara TASTEMIR

Photo: © REUTERS / Yves Herman