The Retention of Preventative Detention in France: Social Defence as Trompe-L’Oeil (or the Emperor’s New Clothes)

French penal law has long been only moderately influenced by positivist theories. The law of 25 February 2008 established preventive detention (rétention de sûreté). This form of detention, coming after an offender has served his sentence, is described as a “revolution in French penal law.” It is the final result of an evolution under the sign of the fight against recidivism, where danger potential and public safety measures tend to replace the notions of responsibility and legal punishment. Nonetheless, this law does not herald the implementation of a modern social defence policy. Although the underlying principles can indeed be seen as a major shift, in practice it reflects a rhetoric which barely conceals a difficulty in dealing with the issues in terms other than neutralisation.