Shanghai courts move to bolster juvenile justice system

All basic and intermediate courts in Shanghai, except for maritime and financial courts, have established offices to handle juvenile cases so as to improve the local juvenile justice system, an official from Shanghai High People's Court announced on Friday.

According to Xue Zhen, a member of the judicial committee of Shanghai High People's Court, these offices will be focused on improving the system of leniency toward guilty pleas and statutory confessions in criminal cases involving minors if the defendants meet the relevant requirements.

Coordination between these offices and the local public security or prosecution departments will be facilitated to promote non-custodial compulsory measures for minors.

In addition, these offices will be responsible for the physical and psychological counseling for youth, learn from the best practices of Shanghai juvenile courts in fostering mandatory parental education, and collaborate with education commissions, women's federations and other organizations to formulate regulations on mandatory parental education.

The city will also bolster social investigation of civil cases involving minors, entrust social organizations to investigate minors and their families, as well as cooperate with the China Communist Youth League to improve related regulations.