LOST CHILDHOOD – a story of delinquency

From war orphans to the “rockers” of the late 50s, the young hooligans of the 70s, and the “youth of the housing projects” of the 80s, 90s and the year 2000, this film will relate the history of delinquent youth from 1945 to the present day.
Using archive footage of certain key incidents and portraits of former minor delinquents from five generations, the film aims to relate the developments in legislation concerning the delinquency of minors but also talk about its media and political appropriation, along with the hardening of society’s gaze. Interviews with professionals working with juvenile delinquents (lawyers, judges, psychiatrists, specialized youth workers) will help us to explore the personal experience of former delinquents and to get a perspective on the course of their lives and what they tell us about our society.
On the right as on the left, between Sarkozy’s “scum” and Chevènement’s “savages”, the political appropriation of the theme of insecurity and its media treatment divert the attention of the French population from the true problems facing these young people. And a society afraid of its youth is a lost society.