Enforcement is key
Despite the challenges, most legal experts agree Beijing and Shanghai are already seeing progress. Yet for smaller cities and rural areas, the new rules on juvenile crime are proving harder to enforce, according to prosecutor Zhou Liwen.
His city, Changsha, capital of Hunan province, still has no specialized office or any examples of cases in which the revised articles have been used, he said.
"In some low-level courts, prosecutors don't pay attention to juvenile crime and sometimes ignore the special procedures for youths," he said, explaining that too few people are shouldering too many cases.
City authorities are studying how to better implement the law, but Zhou conceded, "prosecutors generally lack awareness of how to protect a young person's rights".
Wang Ping, managing director of the Chinese Society for Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Research, the only NGO in China that specializes in helping young offenders, echoed the concerns of Zhou and the prosecutors in Beijing.
He said there are blind spots in the revised law and there is still a long way to go to fill in the blanks. But he welcomed the progress on juvenile work in the country.
"We need more research, especially in rural areas," he said. "Our shortcomings now will be helpful to perfect the law and contribute to our future work."
"After all, we cannot write all things in one article. A law's creation needs much time and is complicated. I hope the authorities can take more practical measures and give training to grassroots workers," he added.
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