He had mentioned this idea in the wake of his appointment to the Chancellery. Before the National Assembly’s Law Commission, the brand new Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti announced that he wanted to “lock up less” juvenile delinquents. Rather than incarcerate, the minister dreamed then of sending these young people for a stay in the army, taking up in passing an idea conveyed by Eric Ciotti. Eric Dupond-Moretti added that he preferred that a young person “have a soldier as an idol than a radical Islamist or a caïd”. The Keeper of the Seals will have waited a year and a half before seeing his wish come true. Since November 15, six young people from
of the closed educational center d’Evreux (Eure) are hosted in the prestigious military school of Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan, in Morbihan.
Thursday, the Minister of Justice traveled to Brittany to discover the “military-inspired course” set up for these six young people aged 14 to 17 years often chaotic. During the five months of their stay in a reinforced educational center, they will spend five weeks with the military, in pairs with a cadet, then two weeks in an ecological engineering site and a week of discovery of the military institution. During this period, they will remain supervised by their educators from the Judicial Youth Protection (PJJ), accompanied by the Irvin association led by former soldiers. “The objective of closed educational centers is to create a break with the environment of minors, who are often deinserted. We are trying to create a spirit of solidarity and cohesion. The military-inspired stay is part of this framework, ”explains the Chancellery.
“It’s not a green class”
For five weeks, the “trainees” will be immersed in the French army, whose values they will have to assimilate, in particular rigor. The days will be punctuated by many activities in the heart of nature: walking, including at night, climbing, bivouacs or orienteering. “This is not a green class, warns the Chancellery. It is a break-up stay where it is a question of cohesion, of surpassing oneself. We are dealing with young people who have major difficulties on a daily basis. The idea is to trigger a click ”.
By signing a protocol this summer, the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Justice hoped to “get to know each other better”. Does the army hope to recruit during these courses? “We are not going to recruit within the PJJ, that is not the objective”, retorts the ministry. Before recalling that it offers “career prospects for young people” but that they remain “still little known”. Whether it wants to recruit or not, the military could face a major problem. To become a soldier, a candidate must present a clean criminal record, unless enlisting in the Legion of Honor.
This first session, which began in November, will be followed by a second in 2022, where six other young people will be hosted in Coëtquidan. An assessment will then be drawn from this experiment, scheduled to last until August 2022.