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[PARIS, 22 November 2006] - A crime bill that would punish juvenile delinquents harder, faster and younger reached France's lower house of parliament Tuesday, championed by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in a bid to stem the violence that plagues the country's neglected suburbs. The bill could be a sign of the direction in which Sarkozy would take France if he succeeds in his bid for the presidency in elections next year. The bill would toughen punishment for offenders as young as 13 and treat 16- to 18-year-olds who commit certain serious crimes more like adult offenders. Its toughest points have been removed, however, amid fears they were unconstitutional. Sarkozy, who has long pushed a law-and-order platform, says France's current laws on juvenile delinquency - which date to 1945 - are woefully out of date and blames them for an 80 per cent rise in crime by minors over the past 10 years. Teachers, social workers and parties on the left oppose the bill, saying it impinges on freedoms and doesn't tackle the roots of the anger that led to rioting in troubled housing projects a year ago and still simmers among poor youth, many of them of immigrant origin. The French Senate approved the bill in September. The lower house, the National Assembly, is expected to make some changes to the bill in debates that start Tuesday afternoon and continue through 29 November. A vote is expected on 5 December. The legislation is Sarkozy's last major text ahead of presidential elections next spring in which he will likely stand as the candidate for the governing conservatives. The bill would move cases involving juveniles more quickly through the justice system, and provide what Sarkozy calls a more suitable response to offenses. Mayors would head a Council for Rights and Duties of Families that would propose various options for troubled youths. Sarkozy had originally wanted youths between 16 and 18 who commit serious crime to be treated as adults, and called for minimum sentences for repeat offenders. Those measures were among those dropped amid protests that they contradicted the constitution. Sarkozy's UMP party, which has a majority in parliament, has included the deleted measures in the party's presidential platform. The bill covers several types of crime. One new measure toughens the sentence from 10 years in prison to 15 years for anyone convicted of attacking a police officer, firefighter or bus driver. That move was in response to ambushes of several police patrols this autumn, and the torching of public buses in several neighbourhoods around the country. Human rights activists, lawyers, teachers and social workers marched through Paris on Saturday calling for the bill to be withdrawn. "Prevention, education, yes. Repression, no," read the banner at the head of the protest. The Socialist Party and other leftist lawmakers are expected to vote against the bill. Further information