International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 22

International Journal on Criminology
A degree of harshness is also present in the general increase in the punishments
incurred. When committed in connection with terrorist activity, a felony renders its
perpetrator liable to a harsher punishment. For example, where a sentence would “normally”
be 30 years of imprisonment, a life sentence is awarded. A 10-year sentence becomes, in
principle, 15 years. In short, for the same offense, the sanction applicable to the terrorist is
greater than that incurred by an ordinary criminal (Penal Code, art. 421-3), with the added
observation that punishments incurred for “association with wrongdoers” range from 10 to
30 years of imprisonment depending on the actual role of the defendant and the nature of the
intended offense (Penal Code, art. 421-5 and 421-6). What is true for the main penalties is
also true for the additional ones. Thus, the forfeiture of civic, civil, and family rights, which in
principle cannot exceed 10 years, can be raised to 15 years in terrorist cases. The same applies
to area banishment (Penal Code, art. 422-3), and even more so to banishment from French
territory (Penal Code, art. 422-4). The final sign of rigor is that persons found guilty of acts
of terrorism incur the additional penalty of confiscation of all or part of their property (Penal
Code, art. 422-6), are placed under the provisions relating to the period of unconditional
imprisonment (Penal Code, art. 132-23), and can be deprived of their French nationality
(Civil Code, art. 25 and 25-1, this sanction being applied as a punishment validated by the
Conseil Constitutionnel (Constitutional Council) in its decision No. 2014-439 QPC [urgent
constitutionality ruling] of January 23, 2015). In solidarity with the victims, the product
of a financial or property sanction imposed on a person convicted of an act of terrorism is
allocated to the contingency fund, which is at present mainly financed by a contribution
levied on property insurance contracts (Penal Code, art. 422-7). The rules governing
terrorist offenses are not, however, exclusively rigorous in nature. There are, in fact, some
rules favorable to terrorists, or at least to some of them: we refer here to those who repent
of their crimes, bringing to mind the famous Italian “pentiti” who collaborated with Judge
Giovanni Falcone in the Palermo mega-trial of 1986.
As in matters of organized crime, anti-terrorism law distinguishes several categories
of “penitent.” The first are those persons whose evidence makes it possible to prevent a planned
offense in which they have been involved from taking place and, where relevant, to identify
the other offenders. In the case of these people—for whom the possibility of assembling all
the elements of proof constituting the attempted act may be in doubt—the legislators have
provided for exemption from punishment. In other words, although guilty, the terrorist cannot
be sentenced (Penal Code, art. 422-1). The second category groups together those who, after
committing an act of terrorism, then provide information to the authorities, thereby making
it possible either to prevent the offense from taking place, to avoid the offense causing harm
or, where relevant, to identify the other authors or accomplices. For these terrorists, the
leniency of the legislators is more limited. No possibility of exemption from punishment
is offered, merely a reduction of sentence. Specifically, the custodial sentence incurred by
the terrorist is reduced by half (20 years in the case of a life sentence, according to Penal
Code art. 422-2). Finally, since the reforms brought about by the “Perben II” Act of March
9, 2004, the revelations of persons already sentenced and incarcerated may be taken into
consideration for the purpose of awarding exceptional reductions of sentence. Depending
on the relevance of the information provided, and the seriousness of the offense that their
statements have made it possible to bring to an end, the sentence reduction accorded by the
judge responsible for enforcing sentences can range in amount, but for those given a fixed-
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