M
r. President [ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy], you promised us toughness. In August 2007, speaking to police officers in [the southern Paris suburb of] Évry, you announced a new era: the end of leniency, the end of impunity. "The cancer of multiple recidivism," you said, was "finished." A few days later, on August 10, 2007, a law establishing minimum sentences was promulgated. For repeat offenders, minimum prison terms became mandatory: one year in prison for an offense punishable by three years, four years for an offense punishable by 10 years.
Editorial Sarkozy conviction: No one is above the law
The message was clear. In France, repeat offenders would now pay a heavy price. You claimed you owed this severity "to the victims," but also "to the police officers, who are fed up with arresting the same people over and over again." Like half of those convicted in France, I paid the price of this severity for some repeated civil offenses: I was incarcerated, placed in immediate provisional detention, whether I appealed or not. I took responsibility for my actions without complaint, as many other citizens did.
Mr. President, in 2007, you were a man of sharp words and swift action. "When someone is sentenced, the sentence must be carried out," you hammered home, speaking in Bordeaux, in March 2012. In your Republic, there was "no impunity for those who break the law." Mitigating circumstances, yes, but impunity, no: No excuses for delinquents, no excuses for criminals. These words, spoken with conviction, shaped your vision of justice and defined the penal policy of which you were proud.
