Some people accumulate debts amounting to tens of thousands of euros, while others withdraw their entire salary in cash each month to avoid any potential seizures by the Public Treasury. All see themselves as victims of the "over-ticketing" practice sometimes employed by the police.
A study titled "Fines, Evictions, Controls: Managing the 'Undesirables' by the Police in the Paris Region," published "with the support of the defender of rights [Claire Hédon]" on Wednesday, April 9, revealed repeated, systematic and ingrained "public space eviction" practices by the police toward certain population groups. "Young men, racialized, of sub-Saharan or North African origin in tracksuits and in groups; in short, the typical figure of a young person from a working-class neighborhood," explained Aline Daillère, a researcher at the Center for Sociological Research on Law and Penal Institutions, co-author of the study with Magda Boutros from the Center for Research on Social Inequalities at Sciences Po.
Two investigations formed the basis of these analyses. The first one is older and is based on the examination of directives and police practices concerning controls and evictions of "undesirables" in Paris' 12th arrondissement between 2013 and 2015. It is supplemented by 44 interviews with young people who have been "over-ticketed and over-controlled," which were conducted between 2019 and 2024 in several neighborhoods of the Paris region, including three in the inner suburbs. Finally, more than 1,200 fines that were issued in these same neighborhoods were scrutinized.
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