Zhan, a judge of the Yanping district court in Nanping, Fujian province, set up the organization seven years ago to help juveniles when they are released from custody.

For its 160 members, the group is a link with Zhan and a platform to offer them help, as not all juvenile offenders are taken care of after being released, but many are prone to be discriminated against.

With the group, Zhan created a feasible method to educate and impress upon the minds of the juvenile delinquents, and she uses QQ, an online instant messaging platform, for real-time communication.

"In order to know the young generation better and let them know you, you have to talk and act their way," she said.

She also organizes group activities from time to time to help the members find friendship and warmth, aiming to enable the errant teenagers to better adapt to society.

In her 27 years of work in courts, Zhan had previously worked in criminal courts before serving the district's juvenile court nine years ago.

"I love kids. My dream was to be a teacher taking care of young students," Zhan said. "Now it seems like different roads leading to the same goal."

As a judge, she is praised for handling 500 juvenile cases involving about 1,100 juveniles, without a single petition or complaint by a disgruntled party, without a single reversed case, and without a single case being sent back for retrial.

"The juvenile court is very different from other courts," Zhan said. "The trial or the punishment is not the objective - having a complete change of one's heart is."

To meet the goal, Zhan launched several campaigns to produce an effect on the young offenders in the group by imperceptible or intangible means, such as volunteering in homes for the aged, assisting the traffic police, or conducting fund-raising events for natural disaster victims.

"I want the kids to know the feeling of doing good things rather than the bad, little by little, to show the power of positive influence in love and caring for others."

She urged the offenders to keep a diary, recording every tiny good thing they offer to others and how they feel, or any discrimination they encounter, and report those experiences to her periodically.

Zhan also came to realize that education for preventing crimes in school is necessary to nip an evil in the bud. She regularly goes to schools and communities to give lectures about legal education to young people, telling them "impulse is the devil" by providing convincing real cases.

"She knows how to communicate with my child better than I do," said the teen's father after meeting Zhan in her office. He clenched Zhan's hands hard to thank her for nearly an hour's talk with his son. Before they left, Zhan gave the teen a card with her phone number marked as a "youth hotline service".

Within the group and beyond, Zhan has been dubbed the "judge mother", as she cares for those juveniles like a mother, sharing love and encouraging them to resume life in the right direction. So far, some of her "children" have found decent jobs, joined the army, or even entered college.

"No young offender is irreclaimable. As long as you have enough patience, plus the right methods, they can always bring you surprises," she said.