# délit de faciès



## Copernic

Hello

How can I translate "delit de faciès" in English?
Thanks much

I guess "driving while black" could do the trick

The context is a description of a typical French policeman attitude towards anyone who is not "gallic" looking, i.e. often black people or from North Africa. These people are subject to many random ID checks, in a discriminatory way, as the "gallic" ones are never asked for their ID.


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## Stefan Ivanovich

Knowing that _délit de faciès_ is very similar to _délit de sale gueule_ may help native English speakers find an acceptable translation...


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## Derblur

I thought it was "Ugly face"


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## Tresley

Ah! So it's a 'crime of not having the right skin colour'?  Is that right?


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## zazap

How about "facial discrimination" ?  It could work, depending on how you want to express the concept.


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## Kelly B

(...)
I have the impression that the general meaning is something like _the officer arrested you because he didn't like your face._


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## Normandy

This phrase had me foxed when I came across it on pages 91 and 92 of "Le Starkozysme" by Duhamel and Field (2008), analysing the interaction between candidate Sarkozy's style and modes of television coverage in France. Much clearer now - thanks!


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## vincent7520

As far as I can remember _*"délit de faciès"*_ was an expression born during the "Guerre d'Algérie" when arab looking persons where harassed by the police on the sole ground of their racial origin.

_*"Délit de faciès" *_means exactly that ! … In modern French we talk about _*"un délit de sale gueule",*_ although it has a no racial overtone …

I would try something as _*"… on account of their race… " / "… on the sole account of their race … "*_ depending on the context.
Moreover *"faciès"* is never used to talk about _"le visage" (the face).

*"un visage" *_can only be human. Hence the highly *pejorative / racist* overtone when_* "faciès"*_ is used for persons, but the racist overtone in the _*"délit de faciès" *_expression is définitely a fact.


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## Maped40

Isn't there anything more compact than "on account of their race"?
There must be an English term for a "racially-motivated" ID check, for example?
I don't think the "délit de faciès" is specifically French, unfortunately...


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## OLN

I think the expression délit de faciès, whatever its origin, is used in any context of intolerance.

It is used in situations where discrimination is based on *appearance *: the person looks poor, looks like a drug addict, dresses like a prostitute, looks like a murderer (whatever the intolerant person thinks).

It is _very often_ used in a racist way, but not always.


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## Topsie

zazap said:


> How about "facial discrimination" ?  It could work, depending on how you want to express the concept.


Is that a common expression? It certainly translates the idea!


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## Maped40

It seems it can be used in that sense:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=facial+discrimination

but not exclusively, here for example it's far more general and there are no racial overtones:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Facia...+Jespersen's+fight+against+the...-a0161594225


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## vincent7520

hi all
the overtone of racial prejudice is clear when used with_ "délit" _.
See Wikipedia's definition uneder :
*"Le faciès est l'aspect ou l'expression du visage. Il est notamment utilisé dans l'expression « délit de faciès », utilisée pour qualifier une forme de discrimination raciste."*

Therefore _"délit de faciès"_ cannot be translated by _"facial discrimination"_ as this has no racial implication ; I would rather try something like _"being charged (or accused of something) …… *on racial grounds"*_
Anyway you need to find the closest expression in English that translate this idea.

Good luck


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## Cath.S.

In my experience, _délit de faciès_ is seldom used to mean anything else than one's ethnic appearance causing police discrimination even though dictionaries tend to provide wider meanings, like the TLF:
Aspect caractéristique de la face
(in non medical and non botanical contexts).

_Le flic l'a arrêté pour délit de faciès, _
_the cop arrested him for failing to look Caucasian._


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## Kat LaQ

There is also the term "racial profiling".


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## OLN

egueule said:


> In my experience, _délit de faciès_ is seldom used to mean anything else than one's ethnic appearance causing police discrimination even though dictionaries tend to provide wider meanings, like the TLF:
> Aspect caractéristique de la face
> (in non medical and non botanical contexts).
> 
> _Le flic l'a arrêté pour délit de faciès, _
> _the cop arrested him *for failing to look Caucasian*._


or maybe _the cop arrested him for being unshaved and bearing a nose ring_ _and tattoos_, whatever his ethnic appearance?

I don't understand it as necessarly racial/ethnic.  

Doesn't it have a similar meaning to *usual suspect* (by physical appearance)?


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## Maped40

As I understand it, the non-ethnic version would be "délit de sale gueule", whereas "faciès" has racial overtones because it identifies the person with an ethnic group (the word is used in anthropology to refer to the facial features characteristic of a particular group).


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## Fred_C

Maped40 said:


> As I understand it, the non-ethnic version would be "délit de sale gueule", whereas "faciès" has racial overtones because it identifies the person with an ethnic group (the word is used in anthropology to refer to the facial features characteristic of a particular group).


 

Hi,
In my opinion, the phrase "délit de faciès" is just an attempt to make the expression "délit de sale gueule" sound more official, by using the latin word "facies" (otherwise used in anthropology) to make it sound more "scientific".
I had always thought that this expression was an invention, and that its "official" sounding was only mere sarcasm, and I did not know it had had a real official use.

Anyway, nowadays, this official sounding expression is almost always used with sarcasm in mind to describe the criticizable methods used by, say, the police.


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## OLN

To me, _délit de faciès_, a wittier form of _délit de sale gueule_, are both pure sarcasm (both used in the same circumstances, *Maped40*), probably originally only in police slang AND by the victims of the discriminatory practice of the police, and by some lawyers.

It's a common expression and I can assure no one would understand _délit de faciès_ as an official delict.


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## angersco

Hi to all the community. No problem understanding the expression but has anyone got a suggestion for an equivalent in English? All I can think of is ; " The only thing he has done wrong is...."
All offers gratefully received.
angersco


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## TinyAnt

OLN said:


> or maybe _the cop arrested him for being unshaved and bearing a nose ring_ _and tattoos_, whatever his ethnic appearance?
> 
> I don't understand it as necessarly racial/ethnic.
> 
> Doesn't it have a similar meaning to *usual suspect* (by physical appearance)?



In French, a "délit" is an offence. "Faciès" is the set of physical characteristics one's human face bears. Animals are generally considered to have heads not faces in French (alas), whereas humans are considered to have faces (a legal standpoint supposedly, here). 

A "délit de faciès", as OLN describes - in my mind, accurately and precisely - is the expression borne by someone's face or attitude or nature demonstrated by someone in the vicinity of   of a crime or offense, just after it has occurred. In this respect, if a person possibly corresponding (for the police)  to the characteristics of the expected offender(s) is found near the location of the crime or offence, that person could be stopped and questioned, maybe even taken in for questioning. 

As OLN indicates, the aspect of the person is considered first and foremost. If a certain number of foreigners to a country are subject to this procedure, their race may seem to them crucial in it, but it is not the basis of the procedure, which is to apprehend the offenders or criminals within the shortest time. The police generally suspect they might cross the offenders in the periphery of the crime or offence as they reach the crime scene, so they intercept any possible suspect. If one is a prostitute, a drug dealer, or alcoholic, that is to say someone with loose morals present in that area at the time, one might be stopped, questioned or taken in. Strolling past at that time, one might also fit the characteristics (clothing, jewellery, tattoos, looks) described by a vague witness at the crime scene or nearing the characteristics of the individual carrying out the crime. It's a probability based procedure focusing on capturing the offenders or their accomplices quickly.


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## Keith Bradford

vincent7520 said:


> ... _"délit de faciès"_ cannot be translated by _"facial discrimination"_ as this has no racial implication...



On the contrary.  Just read the expression out loud -- there's only one letter's difference from the crime of *R*acial discrimination.  I would imagine any British person would see _"facial discrimination"_ (is this an orignal invention?  It's a good one) as being either the same thing as racial discrimination or a close equivalent.


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## TinyAnt

"Faciès" in anthropology refers to the characteristics of a human face : mouth, nose, eyes, eyebrows, etc, and this set of characteristics can be found in any human, not necessarily restricting that denomination to any group whatsoever. 

"délit" means "offence". 

The expression "délit de faciès" could be translated by "fact of having the same set of *f*acial and behavioural characteristics sought by the police after a crime/offence has been committed". Sure, this is not short and doesn't fit in well into a sentence using the French expression. But that's the meaning of the expression.

"Resemblance to a possible suspect" might be an option. What do the others think ? Anything better ?


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## vincent7520

[...] "délit de faciès" is definitely a racist behavior (generally) from the police against non-european foreigners. That is how it used here, in France. Maybe not in French Canada, Louisiana or Madagascar… But in continental France this is perfectly clear.
"Facial discrimination" does not fit simply because you should find an equivalent that is used in common english language… It has a literary flair that is totally off the as to talk about a misbehavior from someone against someone else. If it cannot be found then a circumlocution should be found : "the cop abused his power by arresting this guy on the ground of his racial origins". Less misleading than a playing with letters (racial / facial) with the assumption that everybody will understand the racial connotation even if they have not been immersed in the subject as we are.
[...]


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## wildan1

A close American English expression in intention--although less general--is _DWB ("driving while black")_, fashioned after the legal offense of _DWI (driving while intoxicated)._

As research shows that some police stop a non-white person on the highway more frequently than they do a white person (in some cases with little clear reason to do so), the expression came to be known this way.

Generally speaking, we call this behavior _racial profiling._


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## vincent7520

Ah ! … That's very interesting : this is colloquial english and not an expression made up for the sake of translation.
Thank you very much.


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## mmesorel

I agree with Kat LaQ -- I'd say "racial profiling" is the best equivalent.


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## vincent7520

_"Délit de faciès"_ is certainly not an "official" stance for _"délit de sale gueule"_ among the authorities. In fact, as in most if not all other countries, the authorities simply deny such a thing could be committed by their employees … 

My guess is that _"délit de faciès"_ had been invented by journalists and sociologists when French written form excluded such expressions like_ "sale gueule" _as too familiar.

However, to be honest, I have no real clue as when it occurred at the first time and your guess is as good as mine !…
If someone knows for sure, please tell us ! …


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## Hildy1

wildan1 said:


> A close American English expression in intention--although less general--is _DWB ("driving while black")_, fashioned after the legal offense of _DWI (driving while intoxicated)._


In some regions of the U.S. and Canada, there is a similar offence of "driving while Indian".

Driving while Indian? You’re more likely to be searched by the Washington State Patrol


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