Giving youth a robust defense

When Gu Chengcong started her career as a prosecutor in 2006, most of her work related to young offenders.

Now, as the deputy director of the ninth department that is focused on juvenile prosecution at Shanghai People's Procuratorate, Gu's work is more comprehensive and diverse, yet she only has one purpose, to better help the minors and improve their prospects for the future.

From finding a more appropriate legal guardian for children involved in criminal cases to preventing minors from being sexually assaulted in small cinemas with private rooms, the 38-year-old has tried to help in different situations.

In the past decade, Gu handled more than 1,200 cases involving minors and successfully helped to educate 200 juveniles involved in the cases.

Gu is also the deputy principal of legal affairs for several primary and secondary schools, a postgraduate trainer at East China University of Political Science and Law, a lecturer on the "rule of law into schools" national tour, and a volunteer for the 12355 hotline for youth psychological counseling and legal aid.

She says a good prosecutor for minors should not only be a serious "national prosecutor" but also strive to become a "national guardian" and actively help the children find their future direction.

When she was a child, Gu loved to read martial arts fiction, dreaming of becoming a female warrior who draws a sword and renders help when facing injustice.

In 2006, after Gu graduated from East China University of Political Science and Law, majoring in law, and interned in a court, a procuratorate, at a law firm and a corporate legal department, she decided to become a procurator, which she says embodies the ideals of fairness and justice.

In 2011, Gu was assigned to Qingdong Farm to engage in prosecution work for two years. The prison work gave her a chance to look at criminal procedures and understand the system better.

"A case does not end the moment a judge strikes the hammer in a courtroom. It is really only over when the sentence is completed, including if the offender is paroled or given probation, that his or her community correction is completed," Gu says. "The real effect is actually more reflected by whether the person can smoothly return to society."

During her work there she noticed some young offenders had experienced deviant behavior or criminal wrongdoing as teenagers and she started to think why punishment of children can't effectively prevent recidivism.

"It is clear that punishment only punishes them for the mistakes they have made, but the lack of psychological correction and behavior modification is a hidden danger for them to make mistakes again," Gu says, adding that children are not miniatures of adults.

"If through the whole process of criminal proceedings, the offender can be rehabilitated, the meaning of punishment might be fulfilled. From this point of view, the goal of criminal proceeding is not only about punishment, but also a kind of education for one to reform himself or herself," Gu says.

One key for one lock

When dealing with juvenile delinquency cases, in addition to focusing on minors' behavior, Gu is also concerned about people; in addition to focusing on their past, she is also concerned about their future.

Based on conviction and sentencing, Gu investigates each child's growth experience, family background, and reasons for involvement and carefully analyzes one's need for correction.

"When we are sitting in front of a minor, for him or her it could be the darkest moment of his or her life," Gu says. "At least we should let them feel that they are not abandoned by the world in the process."

The phrase one key for one lock is her approach, to set individualized educational correction programs for juvenile delinquents to guide them.

"We can't just see case files but not the children. We should be tolerant but not indulgent to them and the key is the effectiveness of educational correction," Gu says.

In 2013, Gu dealt with an affray case involving over 20 minors. She noticed several older teenagers were due to take the college entrance exam in a few months, and once they were sentenced by the court, their college life would be replaced by time in prison.

Gu found that some minors in the brawl were not armed and did not directly cause physical injury to others, and they played a small role in the joint crime and admitted to it. If they could be conditionally not prosecuted according to the law, it would help them return to normal life as soon as possible.

Gu worked around the clock, doing door-to-door field research on the causes of the crimes the minors were involved in and their family situations, and analyzed the basis of correction, and reached statements of understanding with the victims, as well as developed personalized correctional plans for the juveniles.

"The plan for each juvenile is quite detailed, as we ask one juvenile delinquent to get to the youth activity center within 40 minutes after school, and there is a social worker waiting for him to do his homework and at 7:30 pm, his mother can take him home," Gu says.

After a year and half on this case, all the juniors involved separately completed their education and correction either in correctional institutions for juvenile offenders or in communities or schools.

Two of them have been admitted to local universities, seven have returned to school, and the rest have been employed.

The personalized correction plan gradually developed into a positive youth development program in Shanghai which still accepts new juvenile delinquents. According to Gu, some of the minors who used to be involved in the program have now been volunteering on weekends.

The case was selected among "top 10 cases of juvenile delinquency prevention in Shanghai" and it was a trial run to not prosecute juveniles with certain conditions after this rule of law came into effect in 2013.

According to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, in the first half of this year, 36 percent of juveniles brought into the legal system were not prosecuted with certain conditions.

Two-way approach

When dealing with different cases involving minors, Gu generally holds a "two-way protection rule" besides combating crime. On one hand, she gives juvenile suspects a lighter treatment on the legal level to give them a chance to reform; on the other hand, she carries out comprehensive assistance for juvenile victims to help them return to normal life.

Gu has handled dozens of cases of sexual assault against minors with facts hidden, a lack of objective evidence and serious criminal consequences.

"Some of the minor victims were unfortunately sexually assaulted by their family members and suffered physical and psychological trauma, and they had difficulty expressing their experience fluently due to their young age," Gu says.

When dealing with crimes against minors, Gu is never afraid of the "zero deposition" situation. She tries to find a breakthrough by measures such as site visits, surveillance checks and recovery of electronic data.

When facing suspects, Gu carefully sorts out the cases and analyzes the psychological characteristics of the suspects, and promptly seizes the opportunity to make them talk; and when facing injured and crying children, Gu, who has a national psychological counselor level three certificate, questions the children by playing games at a "one-stop evidence collection" place.

Gu also visits hospitals, schools and communities, as she tries to unite relevant departments with the concept of professional judicial protection to give the children comprehensive assistance, including privacy protection, psychological treatment, legal aid and financial assistance.

Gu often sits with social workers for hours to listen to the children talking about their experiences and discusses what is best for them.

As some victims of sexual assault cases would encounter accusations from people around when returning to society, Gu says, the prosecutors must tell the victims that "it's not your fault".

Gu emphasizes that "you didn't do anything wrong" is the attitude from the law of the country, and it's a commitment by a good adult to do his or her best to protect minors.

Zhao Hong, Gu's former colleague at Shanghai Pudong People's Procuratorate, says Gu manages all her work from different positions, as well as the prosecution work.

"When I arrived at the office, Gu was already there working and when I got off work, she was still there," Zhao recalls.

"Besides work, she takes time to read books about minors. When we worked together, we often discussed the cases, and the concept in dealing with the cases," Zhao says.

Being a prosecutor for minors means one has to master a variety of laws and regulations, including Criminal Law, Civil Code, Civil Procedural Law, as well as the Law on the Protection of Minors and Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency.

Gu's skills saw her come first at the national minor prosecution competition in 2015.

When Zhao deals with difficult and complex cases, she asks Gu for advice. "Her legal knowledge is quite solid, and sometimes her advice gives me a new angle to deal with a case."

In 2019, Gu was transferred from the Pudong procuratorate to work at the Shanghai People's Procuratorate, focusing on juvenile prosecution. Her focus at work is on the overall development of juvenile prosecution in Shanghai as the city is the birthplace of China's juvenile prosecution system.

For Gu, effective punishment, targeted education and correction, as well as crime prevention are important parts of achieving justice which she seeks the moment she puts on the prosecutor's uniform.