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This paper describes the procedure and some results of a qualitative study on the entry into delinquency and the legal socialization of 42 imprisoned minors. This paper compares two social groups: minors of French origin and minors of North African origin. Using an interactionist social framework, the results of this study refute the deterministic point of view about juvenile delinquency. This study avoids a biased analysis related to the overrepresentation of minors of North African descent in prison. In addition, this paper discusses what the entry into delinquency means to minors of different cultural origins and how they build their own meanings and representations of what delinquency is. Their perception has to be examined within special relational contexts and over-simplifications must be avoided. The authors coin the term of “nomic ductility” ( ductilité nomique), which they believe accounts for the particular structure of this social reality.