By American Renaissance | Created at 2025-01-15 17:11:29 | Updated at 2025-01-15 19:48:48
2 hours ago
Crime rates in France continued to soar in 2024 with alarming hikes in homicides, sexual violence, and robberies painting a bleak picture of the nation’s security challenges.
A report by the Ministerial Statistical Service for Internal Security (SSMSI), published by Le Figaro, revealed that, on average, France experienced three murders, 600 burglaries, 330 sexual assaults and armed robberies, and over 1,000 common assaults every day last year.
In total, there were 1,186 victims of homicide in France in 2024 — a 28 percent increase since 2016. In addition, approximately 4,000 attempted homicides were reported.
Sexual violence has also surged, with 123,210 offenses documented in 2024, a figure that likely underestimates the true scale due to underreporting. The figure has sky-rocketed by 137 percent since 2016 — the last year before President Macron took office.
While non-violent thefts against individuals have declined by 11 percent, property crimes remain significant. Over 220,000 burglaries were reported in 2024, while drug-related offenses continue to fuel broader criminal activity, with drug use offenses rising by 12 percent and trafficking increasing by 5 percent.
“The country has once again passed above the symbolic threshold of a thousand murders in a year,” lamented Alain Bauer, chairman of criminology at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (Cnam).
These figures are scheduled for online release to the wider public on Jan. 30.
The rampant crime has led to France’s prison system becoming significantly strained. Currently, 80,000 inmates are occupying facilities designed for just 62,000, and government pledges to increase capacity have currently not been fulfilled.
A promise to construct 15,000 additional prison places by 2017 is currently projected to be completed by 2029 at the earliest, leading to significant overcrowding and complicating an effort to rehabilitate offenders.
Suburbs of major French cities like Paris and Marseille have become a breeding ground for criminal activity, much of which is undertaken by those from migrant communities.
In 2022, then Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin acknowledged that 48 percent of criminal acts in the French capital were committed by foreign nationals, while they accounted for 55 percent of crimes in Marseille and 39 percent in Lyon.
“Of course, the foreigner is not by nature a criminal, but we have a problem with foreign delinquency,” Darmanin said at the time.
Soaring crime is affecting public confidence in law enforcement and prevention, with a study published this week revealing that more than nine in ten French women now feel unsafe going for a jog.
The poll, conducted L’Equipe, revealed that 92 percent of women are fearful of exercising outdoors. Another 38 percent of the women polled have already been victims of physical or verbal harassment, which resulted in 48 percent of them stopping following the incident.
