De l’usage de l’enfermement comme outil d’intervention et de savoir sur le sexe. L’enfermement des jeunes délinquantes (Belgique, 1920-1970)

Confinement seems to be more legitimate for delinquent girls than for delinquent boys. Why? This paper focuses on how a discourse on sex and sexuality was mobilised to concretise and legitimate the confinement of delinquent girls in Belgium (1920–1970) and to justify some confinement practices. Sex and sexuality verbalised would be tools allowing to act on a certain category of the population, in this case delinquent girls. The paper is based on research that focused on the trajectories of confined delinquent girls, the social and judicial contexts of these trajectories, institutional practices (intra-muros), and the experience of these confined girls. We try to understand how the “delinquent girl” can be a discursive creation, the link between this discourse and a girl’s sexuality, and how this discourse is articulated with practices. This study is an opportunity to question the identity of the delinquent girl through confinement