Judicial social workers take minors under correctional guidance to visit a guqin classroom to enhance their artistic cultivation. Photo provided by the interviewee

　　While Liu Shuning, a judicial social worker at the Yiyou Youth Affairs Social Work Promotion Center in Changchun, Jilin Province (hereinafter referred to as "Yiyou"), was providing correctional guidance to minors under conditional non-prosecution, Wang Jiajia, a prosecutor at the Kuancheng District People's Procuratorate of Changchun, gave her a great deal of support and help.

　　Wang Jiajia is the head of the "Sister Orange" juvenile prosecution studio of the Kuancheng District People's Procuratorate of Changchun. Founded in 2016, the studio conducts legal education for minors and has established a minor observation and protection base and a judicial social work practice base. The name "Sister Orange" draws on Bing Xin's essay "Little Orange Lantern," symbolizing the idea of "being a guiding lantern that lights the way for children's growth." To date, the "Sister Orange" team has provided correctional guidance to more than 2,000 minors involved in criminal cases.

　　In recent years, the Kuancheng District People's Procuratorate of Changchun has established a correctional guidance system for minors involved in criminal cases, with a guidance team composed of "prosecutors + judicial social workers + psychological counselors," an observation and protection platform based on "enterprises + communities + families," and correctional measures combining "public welfare service + educational admonition + skills training." Through this system, individualized guidance plans are created for minors, linking them to social resources such as skills training and employment channels.

　　At the "Rainbow Base" of the Kuancheng District People's Procuratorate, minors involved in criminal cases can enjoy free food and accommodation, "zero-foundation" skills training, and "one-on-one" professional technical guidance, enabling them to quickly master survival skills and adapt to social life.

　　In Wang Jiajia's view, minors involved in criminal cases all have different problems in their own development, so it is particularly important to understand their individualized needs and formulate differentiated guidance plans. Many juvenile crimes are caused by long-standing problems in the family of origin that are difficult to resolve in the short term; only through the joint efforts of procuratorial organs, judicial social workers, society, families, and other parties can good results be achieved.

　　Today, judicial social work organizations have become an extremely important third-party social force between minors involved in criminal cases and the procuratorate, working together with the procuratorate to build a social support network for these minors.

　　More and more judicial social workers are providing help and guidance to minors involved in criminal cases, but at the same time, the developing judicial social work organizations face many challenges.

　　Article 113 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors stipulates that for minors who have committed illegal acts or crimes, the policy of education, persuasion, and rescue shall be implemented, and the principle of education first with punishment as a supplement shall be upheld.

　　"For those subject to conditional non-prosecution, an appropriate guidance venue must be found during the 6-month or longer guidance period," said Xu Bo, chairman of Yiyou. Nationwide, such venues and guidance bases are still scarce.

　　In 2023, Yiyou and the "Firefly" juvenile prosecution studio of the Nanguan District People's Procuratorate of Changchun jointly launched the "Big Friend Project" to help minors involved in criminal cases integrate into society. They opened a café, a floral studio, a bakery, and other venues where minors under guidance can experience various occupations.

　　This year, the "Big Friend Project" continues. In addition to occupational experience, prosecutors and social workers accompany the minors under guidance on visits to university campuses, where they share and communicate with students and experience the guidance of "positive groups." They also work with psychological counselors to use psychological intervention and counseling methods such as sandplay simulation and recreational therapy to relieve the minors' repressed emotions and improve their ability to control and manage their behavior.

　　While improving the correctional guidance system for minors involved in criminal cases, legal education must also be innovated.

　　Prosecutors and judicial social workers from the "Sister Orange" and "Firefly" juvenile prosecution studios visit primary and secondary schools and kindergartens across Changchun to offer "rule-of-law mini-classes." The legal education classes, which are rich in content and include real cases, are very popular among students and parents.

　　"Legal education is like sowing seeds; it is the first step in preventing and reducing juvenile delinquency." Wang Jiajia recalled that after one class, she received a note from a student asking whether some of his own behavior was illegal. This moved Wang Jiajia deeply. "If 100 legal education classes can have an impact on even one person, then this work is meaningful."

　　In addition to face-to-face lectures, prosecutors and judicial social workers also push many videos and animated works on preventing sexual assault, school bullying, and telecom fraud through their official WeChat public accounts to raise minors' awareness of self-protection.

　　"To save a child, no effort is too much," Wang Jiajia said. "We must give sufficient acceptance and support to those lost minors whose subjective malice is not great, in the hope that their youth can shine just as brightly."