Youth offenders could serve in the army rather than prison

Ciotti's bill will be debated and voted on this autumn

Ciotti, who also sits as an MP in the Assemblée Nationale has suggested that youths found guilty of offences should be eligible for national service in place of a prison sentence.

The plans will be presented in parliament in the autumn with a view to being enshrined into law in early 2012, should they pass through both houses.

Early indications suggest that either juvenile defendants will be able to opt for a stint in the armed forces for certain crimes or judges will be able to set military service as a suitable punishment.

Officials have announced that the programme will be tied to the Epide (Etablissement public d’insertion de la defense) scheme, which provides help and support for vulnerable young people.

Ciotti told Le Parisien on Friday that he envisioned service would last between four and six months.

The proposals have been widely revered across the political spectrum. “Of course, military inscription could be a solution to dealing with the overcrowded prison population,” Socialist party primary candidate Ségolène Royal said.

However the left leaning newspaper Libération went on to hint that Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party had stolen the idea directly from Royal. The daily referred to proposals made by the socialist in 2007 calling for “improved schooling, apprenticeships and behavioural and citizen education”.

Royal has yet to accuse Sarkozy, the man who beat her to the presidency in 2007, of copying her proposals. However France’s two main political parties came to blows last week as Royal suggested that the policy could be applied without signing it into law.

On Saturday, Ciotti hit back at Royal’s idea, implying that any change to the penal code, not approved by the legislature would be ‘unconstitutional’.

Should the proposals go ahead, the scheme is likely to be watched closely by other countries including Britain to see if it provides a viable alternative to prison.

Tom Donnelly