The report of the commission of inquiry into the judicial treatment of parental incest was made public on July 9, 2026. It highlights a massive societal denial of incest and reveals failures at each link in the criminal chain. The rapporteur proposes 49 recommendations to combat this “mass crime”.
Nearly 11% of French people say they have been victims of incestuous situations, committing incest “one of the most widespread forms of violence against children”with an increased risk in overseas territories. « The president of the commission of inquiry, Maud Petit (Les Démocrates) reveals that in 81% of cases, the attacker is a family member. The deputy Christian Baptiste (related to the Socialists group), rapporteur, provides figures in this report, which illustrate a “virtual impunity” of the attackers: “19,254 incidents of domestic sexual violence against minors recorded in 2024, for only 1,406 convictions for rape or incestuous sexual assault, and approximately 41% of cases of incestuous rape being dismissed. »
Car “the words of the child who denounces incest are not sufficiently heard; she is sometimes even suffocated “. With 97% men (81% of whom are adults) among the attackers, incest is the paroxysm of male domination, especially since incestuous violence is often accompanied by other intra-family violence. The report also highlights the impact of online child crime, which contributes to a culture of incest, and recalls that “less than two parents in ten tried to protect their child after the violence was revealed”.
With 130,000 child victims of incestuous rape each year but only 380 convictions in 2024, the criminal justice system is failing at all stages. : from the hearing of the child, conducted in unsatisfactory conditions to insufficiently trained judicial experts… Justice maintains in the expertises the notion of “parental alienation syndrome” (PAS), devoid of any scientific basis when it is not mistreatment, with cases of abusive placements, or by handing over the child to an aggressor parent, and by condemning a “protective parent”.
Abolish incest
With “the abolition of incest as a horizon”the report formulates 49 recommendations structured into five areas and calls for the inclusion, in the next budgets, of the means necessary for the protection of children and “protective parents”. He therefore recommends the creation of a “protective parent” status, to protect mothers in most cases, who can be placed in police custody for failure to present children when they seek to protect their child or even to make sexual crimes against minors imprescriptible.
49 recommandations, 5 axes
- Protéger l’enfant sans attendre
- Mener des enquêtes approfondies pour aller au-delà du « parole contre parole »
- Limiter la victimisation secondaire pour l’enfant et le parent protecteur
- Une organisation judiciaire plus efficace
- Faire sortir la société du déni
Liste des 49 recommandations du rapporteur Christian Baptiste
Report on the judicial treatment of parental incestuous sexual violence committed against children and the situation of protective parents, in particular protective mothers, National Assembly, n° 3005, July 1, 2026
