ABSTRACT
The portrayal of the dangerousness of foreigners is undoubtedly one of the oldest social fears and one of the oldest resorts of political demagogy. The history of foreigners or immigrants in France is structurally linked to the construction of the nation-state and industrialization. In the French case, however, one must add the impact of de-colonization and, in particular, that of an Algerian war that was traumatic in various senses and not acknowledged as such for a long time, even when, in the 1960s and 1970s, Algerian workers and then their families became the most numerous group among immigrants. The evolution of delinquency by foreigners investigated by the police forces is composed, first of all and mostly, by offences against the policing of foreigners, that is, 'crimes' of 'illegal' immigration. The forms of victimization concerning individuals that are dealt with by the EPCV survey are attacks and personal theft.
