How can minors who have made mistakes restart their lives? How to protect minors from harm? They are working hard to weave a dense protective network
Four elementary school girls around 10 years old signed up to participate in a swimming class together. During class, coach Zhang always intentionally or unintentionally touches their private parts. At first, the girls didn't pay attention, but as the situation worsened, they decided to inform their parents about the situation. Zhang's behavior constituted the crime of child molestation and was sentenced to imprisonment.
12-year-old Xiaoli downloaded a mobile social app and met 20-year-old Jiao on it. The two had a great conversation. Jiao arranged for Xiaoli to meet at a private cinema, and the two had sexual intercourse in the private room of the cinema. On the day of the incident, Xiaoli, accompanied by her family, reported the incident. Jiao was convicted of rape and sentenced to imprisonment.
Xiao Wang and Xiao Guo are from the same hometown, both 17 years old. They have a good relationship and work together at a KTV. At a party, the two had an argument over whether Xiao Wang was hiding alcohol, and Xiao Wang stabbed Xiao Guo in the abdomen with a knife. After being sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, Xiao Guo died due to excessive blood loss. Xiao Wang surrendered to the public security organs on his own and was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment. He also provided civil compensation to Xiao Guo's parents.
These are all the juvenile criminal warning cases compiled by the Changning District People's Court this year. Live streaming, financial platforms, social media platforms... various channels may lead to juvenile criminal cases, and classrooms, homes, entertainment venues... everywhere can become places that infringe on the rights and interests of minors.
The protection of minors is a complex social system engineering. How to inspire and guide minors who have made mistakes and give them a chance to restart their lives? How to mobilize social forces and reduce the possibility of minors being harmed in any form? In the process of creating a national youth rights protection post, Changning Court has integrated judicial protection into government protection, family protection, network protection, school protection, and social protection, and collaborated with social service agencies and youth affairs social workers to create a comprehensive protection system for minors.
Inspiration and guidance, allowing underprivileged minors to restart their lives
At the age of 17, Zhuang Zhuang is a senior high school student in a key high school. In addition to his heavy workload, he can play games and chat online. One afternoon, Zhuang Zhuang learned from his friend Zhao that he could modify data by using a certain software to recharge on a certain financial system platform. He then found another friend Tang, and the two of them collaborated to modify data while recharging accounts on the platform, stealing more than 40000 yuan.
After arriving at the case, Zhuang Zhuang truthfully confessed to the facts of the crime and returned the stolen money. After trial, the Changning Court found that the defendant, Zhuang Zhuang, stole public and private property for the purpose of illegal possession by modifying computer information system data and false recharging. The amount involved was huge and constituted theft. He was sentenced to ten months and fifteen days in prison and fined.
"When trying cases involving minors, we always adhere to the principle of being most beneficial to minors. We should not only protect minors from infringement from the source, but also create conditions for them to return to society smoothly." said Gu Xuelei, the presiding judge of the Youth Court of Changning Court.
During the process of handling the case, the judge carefully reviewed the documents and repeatedly went to the detention center for trial. Youth affairs social workers also accept the commission of the court to conduct social investigations on minors involved in crimes, visit their families, schools, and neighborhood committees, investigate their personality traits, family situation, social interaction, growth experience, whether they have effective guardianship or social assistance conditions, and produce social investigation reports to provide reference for judicial processing.
"We have found that Zhuang Zhuang is a good child because of his weak legal awareness, the influence of bad peers, and a sense of luck. He committed theft in order to reduce the burden on his parents." Gu Xuelei said that Zhuang Zhuang had a good attitude of confession and repentance after arriving at the case, and did not self harm or give up. He still persisted in reading and reviewing. "He is a child who has made a mistake, and we hope to give him a hand at a critical moment in life."
At the beginning of the establishment of the juvenile delinquent panel, the policy of "education, probation, and rescue" and the principle of "education as the main focus, punishment as the auxiliary" were established. In the process of case trial, we should pay attention to the "five key points" - paying attention to clarifying the specific reasons for juvenile delinquency when reviewing the case, inspiring and guiding when asking questions, selecting "points of influence" during the trial, paying attention to practical results when making judgments, and paying attention to follow-up and inspection after judgment, in order to educate, influence, and rescue minors who have committed crimes to the greatest extent possible. These principles have been used to this day.
Changning District Visiting Supervisor Venue Unveiled
"After the case came into effect, we sent Zhuang Zhuang and his parents, the police station in the registered residence registration area, and the court archives department a notice of the sealing of juvenile criminal records to seal Zhuang Zhuang's files. After his household registration was removed, we sent a notice of sealing again to the police station in the area where he moved in, and coordinated to issue a certificate of no criminal record, so that he could successfully participate in the college entrance examination." Gu Xuelei said.
In order to eliminate the "label effect" caused by crime on juvenile delinquents and enable them to return to society more smoothly. The Special Chapter on the Procedure of Juvenile Criminal Cases in the Criminal Procedure Law clearly stipulates the system of sealing criminal records of minors. As early as the 1980s, the Changning Court made it clear during the trial of juvenile criminal cases that all files and materials of juvenile defendants, except for relevant personnel who can use them, are not allowed to be read or excerpted without the consent of the juvenile court; Criminal cases involving minors shall not be disclosed through news media without the consent of the juvenile court. If there is a need for legal publicity, information such as name, identity, and address that can identify the minor defendant shall also not appear.
Zhuang Zhuang and the judge maintain communication every year, and the judge continues to pay attention and encourage Zhuang Zhuang to pursue his life dreams. After repeating his studies for a year, Zhuang Zhuang successfully obtained admission to a certain normal university and served as the president and deputy youth league secretary of the student union during his university studies. He has won three national scholarships and seven provincial awards, and has been awarded the title of Outstanding Student Cadre at the provincial level.
Multi party collaboration to protect minors from various forms of infringement
When Xiaoyu was 8 years old, his mother passed away due to illness, and two years later, his father also died of heart disease. On his deathbed, the father entrusted his daughter to his most trusted younger brother Awei and left a relocation house and a deposit of over 300000 yuan for Xiaoyu. He also instructed, "I can't dress my daughter in a wedding dress. I hope she can use this money to get married."
After consultation among relatives, the Xinhua Road Neighborhood Committee designated Ah Wei as the guardian of Xiaoyu, who began living under the same roof as his uncle, aunt, and cousin. Uncle's family showed great care for Xiaoyu, and his aunt, cousin, grandfather, and grandmother also showed great affection for him. With everyone's care, Xiaoyu gradually overcame the shadow of his parents passing away early and grew up healthy.
However, due to differences in lifestyle habits and personality, conflicts arose between Xiaoyu and his aunt and cousin. The conflict continues to escalate, and she has repeatedly expressed her desire to live with her grandparents, but her uncle believes that the conflict can be resolved and is unwilling to give up custody.
So both parties came to the court and found Gu Xuelei. After multiple negotiations and soliciting the wishes of Xiaoyu himself, Gu Xuelei ruled that Xiaoyu's grandparents should be the guardians. Both sides have been arguing about how to keep property. Gu Xuelei proposed that a third party with good faith should serve as the property custodian. Before Xiaoxue turned 18, the 300000 yuan should be kept by the property custodian on her behalf.
Social workers entering the campus to promote legal education
This case is the first in the country to establish a third party's property supervision over minors in the form of a judgment. "We hope to provide a feasible solution for similar cases involving vulnerable groups such as minors and the elderly through this innovative system." Gu Xuelei said that in this case, the property supervisor is his cousin, but not all cases can find such a suitable property supervisor. "In the future, we can consider trying more different ways to participate in supervision, such as cooperating with notary associations, banking associations, etc., to ensure the safety and maximization of the interests of minors' property."
"Juvenile justice bears multiple functions of education, prevention, correction, and protection. However, the protection of minors should not only be concentrated within the court, but also extend beyond cases to social governance," said Wang Fei, Vice President of Changning Court.
Guo Ming, Deputy Director General of Shanghai Sunshine Community Youth Affairs Center, also deeply understands this. "Even if family disputes are resolved at the court level, there is still a risk of physical and mental harm to children, such as new friction during visits and new conflicts caused by different educational concepts. Therefore, it is necessary to explore a multi-party linkage service mechanism to obtain the 'optimal solution' for protecting children's rights."
In order to fully listen to the wishes of minors and avoid secondary harm to minors due to litigation, the Changning Court has introduced the participation of youth affairs social workers from the Shanghai Sunshine Community Youth Affairs Center in litigation, and initiated social observation procedures for civil litigation involving minors. Youth affairs social work involves social observation workers conducting community investigations, listening to opinions in schools, and mediating at home, gradually resolving family conflicts. And cooperate with various political and legal departments, relevant committees, and streets and towns in the district to establish the Changning District Juvenile Judicial Protection Center, coordinate legal aid, social investigation, psychological counseling, evidence collection protection, guardianship protection, employment prohibition, and other work to achieve linkage protection of the rights and interests of minors.
"We have also found in the process of handling juvenile criminal cases that many minors' illegal activities are largely related to their families and parents." Wang Fei said that in order to urge parents to become qualified parents, the Changning Court established the "School for Parents of Children" in 1989, with the educational purpose of "everything for the child, for everything for the child", requiring the parties involved in juvenile family cases to participate in teaching, strive to repair marital relationships, and treat problematic families. 63 sessions have been held with 6500 participants.
Unprotected legal education
A mother has twice abandoned her underage children and committed the crime of abandonment. The Changning Court enforced the mother not to evade family education guidance through a restraining order, forcing her to not only receive general community correction but also specialized psychological counseling and social assistance during her probation period.
When minors are abandoned by their mothers and temporarily reside in welfare or nursing homes, youth affairs social workers actively raise living resources, provide psychological care for the children, and help them adapt to the new living environment; When the mother of the minor leaves the workplace, social workers have repeatedly carried out legal education and parental education to enhance their sense of responsibility.
The Changning Court urged this mother to become a qualified parent through classes and exams. This system is the first in the country and was absorbed by the 2021 Family Education Promotion Law.
"The juvenile court is a warm garden, a fertile land of hope, a bright flag, and a" golden signboard "of the court in the work of the people's court. Wang Fei said that on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the juvenile court, Changning Court will take the creation of the national youth rights protection post as an opportunity to explore the construction of a linkage and observation mechanism for judicial assistance to disadvantaged children, deepen cooperation with youth affairs social workers, form a team of public welfare guardians and guardians for minors, weave a three-dimensional network for promoting and guiding family education, and achieve the linkage of juvenile protection work and the integration of youth legal education.".
