ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the question of the protection of the rights of 'minorities within minorities' has the subject of numerous political and scientific debates. Criminal law writers have suggested that the question subdivides into two specific problems: cultural offence and cultural defence. In Belgium, four cultural offences, wearing the Islamic headscarf, forced marriage, genital mutilation and honour crimes, have found their way onto the political agenda; cultural defence has the subject of academic discussion. The chapter formulates a number of theses on the connection between these defences and offences and the notion of economic rationality developed by the Chicago School. Academic opinion on cultural offences and on cultural defence shares several characteristics with actuarial reasoning: it combines law and science, veridiction and jurisdiction; it states that between minorities and crime, there is an overlap or a belonging; it translates racization or ethnicization into criminalization.
