Enfants de justice

In the 1940s – following the crusade of the 1930s against "children's prisons" and with the urgency of saving those who were called "the children of the war" -, completely new approaches to the rehabilitation of minors began to take shape. Private institutions grew up in Brittany, like the famous centre in Kergoat, with new methods of leadership inspired by the Scout movement : collective life, outdoor activities... The first "teachers" were trained in schools. Children's judges were introduced. Neuropsychiatrists and psychologists began to work in "observation and triage" centres, like the one at Prévalaye, in Rennes, which tried to get to know and understand the child in order better to rehabilitate him. The order of 2 February 1945 put the seal on these new ideas : priority to rehabilitation. Thus Saint-Cyr, the old Rennes institution set up in the 17th century, came out of its seclusion to open to modernity and the latest discoveries of psychology.