France works on crime prevention bill after riots

France’s ambitious interior minister, a presidential hopeful widely criticised during the country’s worst civil unrest in four decades, is preparing a new crime-prevention law which could cut state handouts to delinquents’ parents.

The bill, which Nicolas Sarkozy aims to present to his Cabinet colleagues before the end of the year, follows accusations that his emphasis on tough policing, rather than crime prevention, fuelled the anger of youths who rampaged for three weeks in poor suburbs.