In this case, at present, the legal system aimed at protecting juvenile offenders in the criminal justice field is gradually being established. After years of summary and improvement, the principle of "education first, punishment second" is undoubtedly the most powerful legal guarantee for protecting juvenile offenders at present. Therefore, whether we can correctly understand, apply and constantly improve the principle of "education first, punishment second" is directly related to whether we can really and effectively protect the legitimate rights of juvenile offenders in criminal justice practice and realize the legislative purpose of saving juvenile offenders through education.
I. Legal Status of the Principle of "Education First, Punishment Second" The principle of "Education First, Punishment Second" is one of the most important legal principles for correcting juvenile offenders in China's current judicial field and the basic guiding ideology for judicial protection of juvenile offenders. The principle of "education first, punishment second" has developed into an important criminal legal principle through the continuous enrichment and improvement of judicial practice, which should be said to be a great achievement in the process of legal construction in China. 1979 the criminal policy of "combining leniency with severity" stipulated in the criminal law can be said to be a prototype of the principle of "education first, punishment second".
legal ground
199 1 the law on the protection of minors clearly put forward the principle of "education first, punishment second" for the first time, thus affirming the position of the principle of "education first, punishment second" in our legal system in the form of law. In the same year, the Supreme People's Court issued Several Provisions on Handling Juvenile Criminal Cases (for Trial Implementation), the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the Notice on Establishing a Supporting System for Handling Juvenile Criminal Cases, and the Supreme People's Court, the State Education Commission, the Communist Youth League Central Committee, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and the All-China Women's Federation jointly issued the Notice on Hiring Invited Jurors in the Trial of Juvenile Criminal Cases.
This "one regulation, two notices" fully embodies the main idea of the principle of "education first, punishment second" and plays a positive role in the implementation of the principle of "education first, punishment second" and the consolidation of its legal status.