Minors and Machetes: France’s Deadly New Normal
30th May 2025
As the trial opens for the man accused of stabbing young Matisse to death on April 24th last year, the case is one in a series of crimes that have become symbols for a disturbing trend in France. A new report submitted to the government highlights the sharp rise in attacks with bladed weapons, many committed by increasingly younger perpetrators—some of them minors. The authorities seem completely powerless to stop this dramatic trend.
The murders of teenagers killed with bladed weapons have made headlines in France several times in recent months: mundane stories of provocation, dirty looks, and phone thefts degenerating into savage murders with knives or sometimes even machetes. Faced with the scale of the phenomenon, Prime Minister François Bayrou has commissioned a special report entitled “Minors—Bladed Weapons.”
The report concludes that there is “increasingly armed juvenile violence.” According to figures from 2024, 31% of alleged perpetrators of armed robbery are minors aged 13 to 17. In addition, a knife is involved in 57% of homicides committed by minors.