Unaccompanied Moroccan Minors Linked to Crime in Paris Neighborhood, Study Finds

"Their number has been relatively stable for four years. There are still about thirty of them in the Goutte d’Or neighborhood, some are very young minors of 13 or 14 years old, others just of legal age. Contrary to what was envisaged upon their arrival, they are neither orphans nor street children. Many have a family with whom they remain in contact, some can read and write. There is no real typical profile, some have immigrated to find work, others after being marginalized because of the remarriage of one of their parents, some have imitated friends...", declares the sociologist in an interview with 20 minutes.

According to Mr. Peyroux, the main evolution is that for two years, we have been seeing the arrival of minors from Algeria or Tunisia, whereas previously they were all from Morocco. He explains that the situations of these young people vary from one case to another, but some are indeed exploited by human trafficking networks. "The latter are not necessarily very structured, but they exploit and maintain the drug addiction of these young people to push them to steal for them," says the sociologist.

According to him, many investigations have been opened to try to trace and identify these networks, but the extreme mobility of these young people complicates the investigative work. Four years after their arrival in France, "the situation of these minors is not only at the crossroads of several issues - youth protection, justice, police, drug addiction - but is also relatively new," he notes. To solve these problems, Mr. Peyroux suggests: "there would need to be specialized police services and adapted protection, because the standard care does not work."