Juvenile justice system advances

China has been upgrading juvenile justice since the first tribunal for minors was established 30 years ago, in an effort to provide better protection for young offenders and their victims, the top court said on Tuesday.

The number of juvenile tribunals has risen to 2,253 since October 1984, when the first one was built in Shanghai's Changning district, the Supreme People's Court said.

These juvenile courts have punished more than 1.5 million young offenders, and the recidivism rate has been kept to about 2 percent since 2002, the court said.