Executive Director Travels to China for Juvenile Trial Reform Seminar

Our Executive Director, John A. Tuell, last month concluded his trip to Shenzhen, China for the China-United States Juvenile Trial Reform Seminar. The two day seminar, attended by justices from every province and leaders from China’s Supreme People’s Court included presentations and substantive discussions with Chinese justice system experts on the role of judges, community-based solutions, family involvement, and the potential introduction of risks-needs instruments among other relevant topic areas. Despite being in practice for less than thirty years, the Chinese justices shared concerns and issues that mirror many of the issues we struggle with in our United States juvenile justice systems along with their desire to “treat the juvenile offender as a child rather than the child as a criminal” which opened the door to discussions about the current research on adolescent development. Mr. Tuell was part of a team of five juvenile justice experts making the trip which was sponsored by the Dui Hua Foundation. The Executive Director of the Foundation, John Kamm described the discussions and substantive exchange that occurred during the trip as “on a scale of 1-10, an 11.” Mr. Tuell commented that the trip “was a professional and personal highlight of his career because we all left the experience feeling as if we had made a difference in the practice and belief system for the Chinese juvenile justice system.” For more details on the trip, please visit: https://duihua.org/wp/?p=12680.