Work Experience: A New Kind of Penalty?

In 2003, French lawmakers created a new type of penal sanction, which consists in “training courses” that combine education, prevention, and sanctions. These penal innovations are presented as a means to qualitatively adjust penalties to non-indictable offences. Based on a quantitative and qualitative study, this paper highlights the tensions that exist between these pedagogic purposes and judicial practices focused on the flow, systematization, and the acceleration providing sanctions at a lower cost.