De l’enrôlement parental à l’exclusion socialeReconfigurations des solidarités familiales et reproduction des inégalités sociales et de genre en contexte judiciaire

Research framework : Research on changes of juvenile justice has highlighted the growing emphasis on family involvement. Less attention has been paid to the socioeconomic impact of this shift, probably because of a focus on the work of social workers and how professional discourse and practices shape institutional norms in terms of “good” parenting.Objectives : This study, conducted in France, suggests shifting the focus to the reconfiguration of the social and family rhythms of mothers and fathers faced with juvenile criminal justice. Building on this work, we show that the quest for greater parental involvement tends to give parents a more central role, while obscuring the social and gender inequalities faced by these families in this judicial context. The aim is to analyze how these constraints exacerbate social inequalities.Methodology : This study is based on an ethnographic survey conducted over several months within a territorial open educational service of the French public sector of youth protection (Protection judiciaire de la jeunesse), including some fifteen interviews with young people and their parents.Results : This article examines the effects of juvenile placement and detention on families, both in terms of the reorganization of social and professional rhythms and the relationships maintained by parents with socio-judicial institutions. It shows that the burden of these ordeals varies according to social and economic resources, gender, and family configuration.Conclusions : The reconfiguration of family roles and rhythms during a period of placement or detention of young people tends to increase the burden of social and gender inequalities before penal institutions.Contribution : This analysis sheds new light on the study of changes in the juvenile criminal justice systems, based on the perspective of parents confronted with it. It shows that the logic of parental responsibility in follow-up work amplifies socioeconomic inequalities, particularly for immigrant families, and gender disparities in the reorganization of parents’ socio-professional rhythms.