Prosecutors and judicial social workers present a coming-of-age ceremony cake to a minor under correctional supervision. Photo courtesy of the interviewee

Prosecutors and judicial social workers meet and communicate with a minor under correctional supervision. Photo courtesy of the interviewee

A judicial social worker accompanies a minor under correctional supervision to experience being a barista. Photo courtesy of the interviewee

Prosecutors and judicial social workers hold a coming-of-age ceremony for a minor under correctional supervision. Photo courtesy of the interviewee

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has proposed that while crimes against minors must be severely punished, great importance must also be attached to the prevention and governance of juvenile delinquency.

As a judicial social worker at the Changchun Yiyou Youth Affairs Social Work Promotion Center (hereinafter referred to as "Yiyou") in Changchun, Jilin Province, Zhang Nan is stationed at the Changchun Municipal People's Procuratorate. There are 21 judicial social workers like her across procuratorates at all levels in Jilin Province. Since 2018, with the support of the Communist Youth League Changchun Municipal Committee, the Changchun Municipal People's Procuratorate, the Changchun Civil Affairs Bureau and other departments, "Yiyou" has undertaken projects such as the "Special Social Work Service for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency" and "Government-Purchased Judicial Social Work Services" of the League organizations and procuratorates, marking the beginning of Changchun's exploration of judicial social workers' intervention in the correctional supervision of minors involved in crimes.

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In the five years since becoming a judicial social worker, Zhang Nan has found every day full of challenges.

When she first started working after graduating from university, the thought of dealing with minors involved in criminal cases made Zhang Nan somewhat apprehensive. Smoking, heavy drinking, tattoos, irritability, and frequent resort to violence to solve problems—these are the impressions these misguided minors have left on the outside world.

During meetings, Zhang Nan saw that most of them kept their heads down, said little, and spoke in very low voices. After interacting with them for a while, she discovered that behind these minors involved in criminal cases lie the absence of family education and supervision, ignorance and disregard of the law, and confusion and helplessness about life. As a judicial social worker, Zhang Nan must, under the guidance of the procuratorial organs, meet regularly with minors involved in criminal cases, conduct social investigations, psychological assessments, and risk evaluations, and help them get back on the right track in life.

　　Families in free fall, emotions out of balance

The targets of Yiyou's judicial social workers' tracking, supervision, and correctional supervision are mainly minors involved in crimes who receive "conditional non-prosecution."

"Conditional non-prosecution," also known as "deferred prosecution," refers to a situation in which, during review and prosecution, the procuratorial organ sets certain conditions for a criminal suspect whose crime is relatively minor, based on the nature and circumstances of the crime, the causes of the crime, and the suspect's repentance after the crime. If, within the statutory period, the suspect fulfills the relevant obligations and the probation period expires, the procuratorate shall make a decision not to prosecute.

Data on cases involving women and children released by the Supreme People's Court on April 16 show that the situation of juvenile delinquency remains grave and that the problem of school violence cannot be ignored. Over the past three years, the number of juvenile offenses has generally been on the rise. From 2021 to 2023, people's courts concluded a total of 73,178 juvenile crime cases and sentenced 98,426 juvenile offenders, accounting for 2% to 2.5% of all criminal offenders during the same period. In dealing with juvenile delinquency, we must adhere to the policy of "education, persuasion, and rescue" and the principle of "education first, punishment as a supplement," emphasizing that trials should serve both as a courtroom for admonishing and punishing misguided minors and as a classroom for rescue and education.

Zhang Nan has seen that behind many of these minors who have embarked on the path of crime are families in free fall and emotions out of balance. She once worked on the correctional supervision of a minor named Xiaohua. His parents had divorced and neither cared for him. Xiaohua was sent by relatives to a welfare home, where he met two peers of the same age whose parents had both died.

Because they usually lacked pocket money, the three turned to theft. Starting with stealing bread and sausages from street shops, they committed thefts across Changchun, repeatedly stealing cash and goods totaling more than 15,000 yuan, and were later caught by public security organs. Only when apprehended did Xiaohua realize the seriousness of the matter.

Zhang Nan has also worked on the correctional supervision of several minors arrested for participating in activities that aided information network crimes. Most of them had dropped out of school early, lived in financial hardship, and had befriended idle members of society.

In Zhang Nan's view, behind these minors' criminal behavior is a reflection of the absence of family education and supervision, ignorance and disregard of the law, and confusion and helplessness about life.

One correctional supervision experience left a deep impression on Zhang Nan. A 16-year-old named Xiaohai accidentally killed his own father. In the detention center, Xiaohai told Zhang Nan that his father, drunk, was about to hit him with a shovel. Afraid of being beaten to death, he took out the small knife he usually used to carve trees, intending only to scare him, but unexpectedly stabbed his father to death.

After analyzing 88 indicators through psychological assessment, Zhang Nan wrote in the assessment report: Xiaohai has an intermediate personality type; in interactions with others he shows no obvious stubbornness or eccentricity, treats other people and small animals kindly, and displays a certain degree of empathy. At the same time, Xiaohai is emotionally unstable, his emotional reactions are relatively pronounced, and he is prone to acting on impulse.

Accompanied by prosecutors, Zhang Nan entered the detention center multiple times to provide psychological counseling for Xiaohai. Before the court hearing, Zhang Nan, together with the prosecutors, listened to relatives' assessments of Xiaohai. They pleaded on his behalf: "The child is a good kid; we hope he can be given a chance..."

Xiaohai was abandoned by his mother from a young age, and his father often beat and kicked him. His childhood experiences had an enormous impact on him. The correctional supervision of Xiaohai also led Zhang Nan to re-examine the world of minors involved in criminal cases and to feel deeply that the role of judicial social workers is indispensable.

　　Youth can set sail again

What kind of children are prone to embarking on the path of crime? Wang Lamei, a prosecutor at the Changchun Municipal People's Procuratorate, concludes that special attention should be paid to "three-without" minors—those with no parental supervision, no source of income, and no fixed residence. Left-behind children whose parents have divorced or gone out to work and who are raised and educated by grandparents also require particular attention. A small number of minors involved in criminal cases come from intact families, but there are problems with family education, and they grow up amid spoiling or violence. "Children who grow up in these environments are prone to harming others or being harmed themselves," Wang Lamei said.

Wang Lamei, who has worked in juvenile procuratorial work for more than 10 years, has found in handling cases that minors are impressionable and changeable and are highly susceptible to adverse environments. Because their "three views" have not yet taken shape at this stage, through scientific risk assessment, minors involved in criminal cases who qualify for conditional non-prosecution can restart their lives with the joint help of procuratorial organs and judicial social workers.

To effectively help minors involved in criminal cases return to society, the work of judicial social workers needs to be more individualized and targeted.

Su Jing, a supervisor of Yiyou's judicial team, explained that in the process of examining and providing correctional supervision to minors involved in criminal cases, judicial social workers formulate detailed plans and programs, including raising the clients' legal awareness, improving family education and promoting parent-child relationships, helping clients cut off contact with negative peer groups, and returning to school and society.

Speaking of the experience of Dafei, a high school senior involved in a crime who returned to school and was admitted to his ideal university, Su Jing was deeply moved.

After Dafei's parents divorced, he lived with his father. His father worked away from home year-round, and only his elderly grandmother cared for him. His father would give Dafei a whole year's living expenses at once, for him to manage himself. Lacking parental supervision and companionship, Dafei had very poor emotional management skills, would overinterpret others' words and actions, and often got into fights and shouted abuse at the slightest disagreement.

During the summer vacation of his second year of high school, Dafei was arrested for participating in a group brawl. Dafei showed a good attitude in admitting guilt, and the procuratorate lawfully made a decision of conditional non-prosecution against him, with a probation period of six months.

To help Dafei, the correctional social worker began by changing his negative cognitions and values, took him to volunteer activities, helped him cut off contact with negative peers and enter a positive circle, and met with Dafei's father multiple times to provide parenting education. In addition, the social worker helped Dafei analyze his interests and strengths and supported him in taking the college entrance examination and filling out his application.

Through the joint efforts of the procuratorial organ, judicial social workers, and the family, Dafei's scores improved in every mock exam during his senior year, and in one math exam he even scored the highest in his grade. In the summer of 2023, Dafei successfully gained admission to his ideal university.

There are also some minors involved in cases under conditional non-prosecution who reach adulthood after a probation period of six months to one year and hope to find jobs and support themselves. Su Jing explained that social work organizations and procuratorial organs will work together to match them with suitable job resources.

To date, Yiyou has undertaken juvenile judicial social work services for 15 procuratorates in Changchun, Songyuan, Yanji, and other places, and has taken on a total of 1,490 cases involving minors, including 613 cases of examination and correctional supervision under conditional non-prosecution. It has provided 2,085 social investigation reports and conducted parenting education for the parents of minors in 1,313 cases.

In this process, Yiyou has compiled and formulated service standards such as the "Specifications for Juvenile Judicial Social Work Services" and the "Guidelines for Social Investigation in Juvenile Judicial Social Work" to guide social workers in carrying out juvenile judicial social work services in a more systematic way. It has also developed a psychological assessment system for disadvantaged adolescents.

At present, Yiyou's judicial social workers continue to provide one-on-one follow-up services to 108 minors involved in cases whose conditional probation and correctional supervision have ended, in order to consolidate the results of the correctional supervision.

　Letting sunshine into their lives

Liu Shuning, 25, joined Yiyou as a judicial social worker after graduating from university and was stationed at the Kuancheng District People's Procuratorate in Changchun.

Whenever she takes on a case, she wants to figure out: Why did this minor embark on the path of crime? What was his upbringing like? What were the psychological motivations for the crime? "The work of a judicial social worker is like a mirror. If you speak softly, accept and respect them, they will give you positive feedback and engage in dialogue with you," Liu Shuning said. This is her key to opening the hearts of minors involved in criminal cases.

Speaking of a youth named Xiaolin, Liu Shuning felt great pain. A child of this age should be in high school, enjoying campus life and parental love. But Xiaolin's life had no love, and even less direction. His father was serving a prison sentence, and his mother had been out of contact for years. Xiaolin secretly spent all of his grandfather's 60,000 yuan in retirement savings, and was later arrested for theft by pulling open car doors.

In Liu Shuning's view, Xiaolin had long been detached from family and school, drifting on the margins of society, and badly needed someone to "give him a hand."

During the examination period of Xiaolin's conditional non-prosecution, the procuratorate helped him find a job at a restaurant. The restaurant owner's acceptance and encouragement made Xiaolin cherish this job opportunity very much. Starting by learning to serve dishes, he then learned to chop and prepare ingredients, and by paying close attention to learning from the chef, Xiaolin mastered quite a few cooking techniques.

At the first meetings at the procuratorate, Xiaolin only nodded or shook his head in response to Liu Shuning's questions, without any verbal response. Liu Shuning deliberately chatted with Xiaolin about cooking and asked him to teach her how to make minced pork with eggplant and how to make green pepper stir-fried dried tofu authentically and deliciously. Gradually, Xiaolin could chat and laugh with Liu Shuning for an entire afternoon.

In daily life, Xiaolin would take photos of his neatly made bed and send them to Liu Shuning, and when he encountered confusion or happy things, he would also take the initiative to share them with her. While working at the restaurant, Xiaolin could earn 3,500 yuan a month. He saved 500 yuan a month for his father, who was still serving his sentence, and sent another 500 yuan to his grandfather. Xiaolin would save the rest himself.

At one meeting, Xiaolin excitedly told Liu Shuning that he had already taken charge of the wok. Once, during mealtime, the kitchen was temporarily short-handed, and the owner asked who could stir-fry a dish of dried tofu with bean sprouts. Xiaolin volunteered and made the dish excellent in color, aroma, and taste, receiving high praise. Xiaolin, who had never received encouragement or recognition since childhood, found a sense of purpose in life in the restaurant kitchen. He thus set his life goal: to strive to become an excellent chef.

In her three years as a judicial social worker, Liu Shuning has provided correctional supervision to 42 minors involved in cases under conditional non-prosecution. "The reason they embarked on the path of crime is that their lives lacked sunshine and warmth," Liu Shuning said. "When they see the sunshine, they will also grow toward it."