France :

  • 140 000 young people leave each year school with no degree or qualification.
  • 620 000 teenager from 18 to 24 are considered as very complicated and are over the years left behind in the school system.
  • 16, that is the age with the highest school dropouts.
  • A study by the Ministry of Justice reveals that “…more than three quarters of those sentenced to prison who were minors at the time of the crime were reconvicted and almost seven out of ten were resentenced to prison within five years.” (“The risk of recidivism of those being freed from prison. A new evaluation.”, Ministry of Justice).

ACAYs observation:

The time youth spend in prison in France is very short, about three months, except for those who have committed a serious crime. ACAY has developed its programs with the idea that the time spent in prison can become a useful time, an opportunity for youth to go into the depths of understanding themselves and make new choices for their lives.