New legislation dealing with the treatment of delinquent minors and the resulting arrangements constitute a break and a regression in relation to the history of this treatment since 1945, with the theoretical contribution of the human sciences on this subject, and with the professional experience accumulated by those who intervene in this field.
The mode of intervention by Judicial Youth Protection which has now been established for dealing with incarcerated minors provides a good illustration of this regression. In an open institution, the youth worker and, through him, Judicial Youth Protection, must occupy a complex position as a third party outside the penal institution. The continuity of the educative action and the exteriority of the institutional position are inseparable and determine the validity of this intervention. The return of the notion of rehabilitation, as opposed to the concern for the consideration of the subject in his psychical reality, and its corollary, the return of the Judicial Youth Protection as co-guarantor of the penal world for minors, will invalidate this position and its potential.