Giving youth a robust defense

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.