In 1918, in the same period as other Western countries, Spain set up juvenile courts which favored rehabilitation over punishment and aimed at isolating minors from adults and protecting them. This so-called “protective” judicial model actually created jurisdictions that infringed ordinary rules of law and did not provide minors with the same procedural guarantees as adults. This study shows how Franco’s regime strengthened the exceptional powers of these jurisdictions (specific procedures and norms, prerogatives related to both repression and protection, criminalization of non-offending conducts) and used them as a tool for repression, social control and transmission of Francoist values. Through our analysis of the Spanish case, we seek to contribute to the definition of the links between special courts and dictatorial regimes.