France Clarifies Youth Radicalization Statistics

In an interview with France 2 on September 23, the French Minister of Justice, Jean-Jacques Urvoas, revealed that 600 teenagers in France are currently under suspicion of radicalization. This figure came from an investigation which the Judicial Youth Protection Directorate first opened in January 2015.

Urvoas stated this new information when he was questioned about a recent headline from Le Figaro, published the day before, which announced that this number was closer to 2,000. Le Figaro also reported that this number increased by 121 percent in the past year.

Urvoas condemned Le Figaro, a center-right publication, for exaggerating the facts and affirmed that “those are not the numbers.” As Urvoas explained in greater detail, among the 600 teenagers currently under suspicion for radicalization, 150 of them were reported by their own parents. 

Despite discounting Le Figaro’s report,  Urvoas nevertheless agreed that there is a “heavy tendency” towards radicalization among French youth, as they are more easily influenced than adults. As an unidentified specialist in the Le Figaro article explained, these teenagers are “often struggling with school, or an unsteady family dynamic” and are “first recruited in the streets by a ‘friend of a friend’” who then gives them access to jihadist social media platforms. 

This rise in the number of young people in France participating in jihadist networks is a major concern for most French citizens. Both reports, whether they be Le Figaro’s study or France 2’s interview with Urvoas, may only further entrench this fear.