In the wake of the murder of an 11-year-old girl that shocked the nation, seven in ten people in France believe that there should be a national referendum to decide whether or not the country should reinstate the death penalty for serious crimes against children.
According to a nationally representative survey of 1,010 adults by the CSA Institute for CNEWS, 68 per cent of French people would back a national referendum over bringing back capital punishment for major crimes against children.
The poll found that women were more in favour of such a referendum than men, with 70 per cent of women in favour, compared to 66 per cent of men.
Intriguingly, younger voters appear more in favour than their elderly counterparts, with 90 per cent of 18-24 year olds in favour, followed by 72 per cent of 50 to 64 year olds, 67 per cent of 35 to 49 year olds, and just 54 per cent of those 65 and over.
When looking at political affiliation, leftist parties were found to be the least in favour of a referendum, with just 35 per cent of Green Party and 40 per cent of Socialist Party backers supporting the measure. However, a majority of members of the Islamo-leftist France Insoumise of Jean-Luc Mélenchon were in favour at 57 per cent. This was slightly below the level recorded for supporters of President Emmanuel Macron’s neo-liberal Renaissance party, 58 per cent of whom would support a referendum.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, those on the right of the French political spectrum were most likely to back a vote on the return of the death penalty for crimes against children. Indeed, 74 per cent of supporters of the centre-right Républicains replied in the affirmative, while 95 per cent of backers of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally expressed support.
The poll comes amid the fallout from the death of Lyhanna Rameau Bernard, an 11-year-old girl from the small town of Fleurance outside of Toulouse, whose body was found earlier this month in an abandoned grain silo on a nearby farm. A witness claimed to have seen the young girl entering the car of a family friend, Jérôme Barella, a week prior.
Barella was already known to police as a suspected paedophile, with multiple reports against him, including allegations of rape against a 7-year-old, which were dropped in 2022, and another complaint over the alleged rape of a 10-year-old girl between 2024 and 2025. Critically, the investigation into the second investigation was still ongoing at the time of Lyhanna’s death.
However, even after nine months of investigations, police had yet to question Barella. Critics of the slow justice system in France have suggested that if he had been made aware that police were investigating him, he may not have been so bold as to allegedly kidnap Lyhanna.
In addition to the multiple reports from children in France made against him, Le Monde reported that Paris’ Office for Minors (Ofmin) had been informed by the U.S. National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) of potential paedophile behaviour on the internet. Yet again, no action was taken before Lyhanna’s death.
The case, which has sparked widespread protests and backlash against the government, has spurred calls for judicial reform in the country, including from former Interior Minister and presidential candidate Bruno Retailleau, who has proposed the creation of “a disciplinary court of the judiciary” that can sanction magistrates for failing to meet their responsibilities.
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