The «loss of culture» as an uncertain rehabilitation paradigm: the bottom-up construction of an alternative sentence to imprisonment in juvenile justice (Kanaky-New Caledonia)

Abstract

The article analyzes the implementation of alternative detention measures in Kanaky-New Caledonia through ethnography of a penal reparation applied in a context marked by strong socioeconomic inequalities and high incidence of indigenous youth incarceration. Examining the relationship between the institutional rehabilitative paradigm – which interprets Kanak youth delinquency as «loss of cultural references» – and the concrete practices of sanction implementation, the ethnography shows how the effectiveness of measures depends on destigmatization mechanisms activated by their normalization in ordinary social contexts rather than cultural reappropriation processes. The case highlights the dynamics of mediation between institutional prescriptions and local actors’ adaptation strategies, illustrating how concrete practices reconfigure penal policies within the framework of postcolonial legal pluralism.