Parliament has definitively validated the bill establishing an injunction for psychiatric examination. This measure, which can be activated directly by the prefect, targets individuals suspected of preparing attack plans, despite multiple warnings from the hospital community.
Supported by MP Charles Rodwell (Together for the Republic, Yvelines), this highly debated text aims to strengthen national security, the use of administrative detention as well as the prevention of terrorist threats. After obtaining a compromise agreement in the joint committee, the bill passed its final legislative stage by being voted on in the Senate on June 15, then in the National Assembly on June 16. The first article of this law therefore introduces a new psychiatric examination system ordered by the prefectural authority. A legislative development firmly contested by many health professionals and left-wing parliamentarians, who describe it as risky, scientifically unjustified and impossible to implement on the ground.
In its final version, the law specifies that “sole purposes of preventing the commission of acts of terrorism, at the same time as enabling the protection of health”the State representative may “requiring a person (…) to submit to a psychiatric examination within a time limit that it sets and which cannot be less than fifteen days, except in a duly justified emergency”. To activate this measure, the authorities must have “ serious reasons to believe that his behavior constitutes a serious threat to public order and security“, an observation based on “ his adherence to theories inciting or advocating acts of terrorism and actions likely to be in whole or in part linked to mental disorders, identified by the opinion of a psychiatrist on the basis of all the elements at his disposal« .
A criticized text
Article 1 of the text gave rise to numerous debates. The Senator of the North (Hauts-de-France) Ms. Michelle Gréaume underlined during the session of May 20 in the Senate that the bill was based “ on a scientifically contested postulate: this text maintains a dangerous amalgamation between radicalization and psychiatric disorders, while existing work says exactly the opposite. The French Federation of Psychiatry already recalled, in a reference report published five years ago, that there is persistent confusion between criminal terrorist acts and psychotic crimes. She also underlined that the psychiatric characteristics of people monitored for radicalization do not correspond to those of the perpetrators of terrorist acts.“, insisting on “ international figures ” Who ” show that only a very small minority of people convicted of terrorism have severe psychiatric disorders: around 4% to 5%. Above all, research demonstrates that radicalization processes are more linked to social factors than to mental pathologies. In other words, your system is not based on any scientific work, so much so that psychiatrists themselves massively contest it. It risks being counterproductive in the real prevention of terrorism“, she concluded.
« Then, this text is arbitrary, because a system of hospitalization without consent already exists when a person presents a danger to themselves or to others due to psychiatric disorders. Such a mechanism is framed by a guarantee: a medical certificate establishing an imminent danger“, she denounced, believing that with this article, “ we leave the field of care”.
To find out more:
• Proposal for a law aimed at strengthening security, administrative detention and preventing the risk of attack (filed on Tuesday, December 2, 2025), the legislative file.
• Proposed law, Strengthening the prevention of attack risks, Text no. 116 (2025-2026) modified by the Senate on May 20, 2026.
• Proposal for a law, adopted, under the conditions provided for in Article 45, paragraph 3, of the Constitution, by the National Assembly, aimed at strengthening security, administrative detention and preventing the risk of attack on June 16, 2026, TA n° 315.
