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The confinement of minors is the starkest image of punishment, and for minors the most damaging in terms of mental health, development and recidivism. Can modifications undertaken in penal institutions for minors reduce the affiliating and stigmatizing effects of incarceration? Do the educative detention centers that have been constructed offer a favorable outlook for a pedagogical undertaking? Can this be envisioned without taking into consideration the psychic dimension of the anti-social act? We will examine these questions in this paper after an examination of the supposed etiology of delinquency.