Juvenile Justice (TV series)

Juvenile Justice is a 2022 South Korean legal drama television series that premiered on Netflix on February 25, 2022. Written by Kim Min-seok and directed by Hong Jong-chan, it stars Kim Hye-soo, Kim Mu-yeol, and Lee Sung-min. Juvenile Justice tells the story of a judge who is known for her dislike of juveniles and gets appointed as judge of a juvenile court. The court-room drama sends a message of how society is also responsible for juveniles' acts.

Synopsis
Shim Eun-seok, an elite judge with a cold and distant personality who is known for her dislike of juveniles, is appointed judge of a juvenile court in the Yeonhwa District. There, she breaks customs and administers her own ways of punishing the young offenders. Eun-seok has to deal with and balance her aversion to minor offenders with firm beliefs on justice and punishment as she tackles complex cases while discovering what being an adult truly means.

Main

 * Kim Hye-soo as Shim Eun-seok, a stern judge of the Juvenile Court with a bitter past that shaped how she perceived juvenile offenders
 * Kim Mu-yeol as Cha Tae-joo, a compassionate judge of the Juvenile Court with a past history as a victim of domestic abuse and being in juvenile reformation center. He believes in giving second chances to juveniles as he views them as redeemable as a result of his juvenile past
 * Lee Sung-min as Kang Won-jung, chief of Juvenile Justice Division
 * Lee Jung-eun as Na Geun-hee, who succeed Kang Won-joong as chief of the Juvenile Justice Division. She is the polar opposite of Eun-seok regarding their stance towards the sentencing of juvenile offenders

Juvenile Offenders

 * Lee Yeon as Baek Seong-woo, conspirator in the Yeonhwa Elementary School Murder Case.
 * Hwang Hyeon-jeong as Han Ye-eun, the main culprit in the Yeonhwa Elementary School murder case.
 * Jo Mi-nyeo as Woo Seol-ah, a juvenile pickpocket criminal
 * Shim Dal-gi as Seo Yu-ri
 * Song Duk-ho as Kwak Do-seok, a driver involved in the minor unlicensed driving accident (episodes 7, 8).
 * Kim Do-gun as Seo Dong-gyun
 * Kim Jun-ho as Kang Shin-woo, Kang Won-joong's son involved in exam cheating cases.
 * Lee Bom as Gyu-sang's wife
 * Lee Seok-hyung as Lee Nam-kyung, a boy who goes to court in a traffic accident case without a license for minors.
 * Kim Gyun-ha as 'Baek Do-hyun', a brutal juvenile criminal leader. At age eleven, Do-hyun and his friend Hwang In-jun murdered Shim Eun-seok's son Nam-goong Chan but were acquitted of the crime; he and In-jun both later appear in court for a sexual offence.

Victim's parents and offenders

 * Song Duk-ho
 * Kim Chan-hyung as Ji-hoo's biological father
 * Park Bo-kyung as Ji Hoo's mother
 * Kim Do-geon
 * Jang Dae-woong

Yeonhwa District Court

 * Park Ji-yeon as Woo Soo-mi, director of the Juvenile Criminal Compromise Unit
 * Lee Sang-hee as Joo Young-sil, officers involved in juvenile criminal deals.
 * Shin Jae-hwi as Seo-bum, executive officer of the Juvenile Criminal Agreement
 * Keum Kwang-sun as Han Kyung-Jung, judicial police inspector under the Ministry of Justice

Pureum Youth Recovery Center

 * Yeom Hye-ran as Oh Seon-ja, director of Pureum Youth Recovery Center.
 * Jung Yi-soo as Kim Ah-reum, Oh Seon-ja's daughter and Kim Ah-jin's older sister.
 * Park Chae-hee as Kim Ah-jin, Oh Seon-ja's daughter and Kim Ah-reum's younger sister.
 * Kim Bo-young as Choi Young-na
 * Yoon Seo-ah as Go Hye-rim
 * Choi Ji-soo as Oh Yeon-ji
 * Jo Yoon-soo as Yoon Eun-jeong
 * Ha Yi-an as Woo Min-kyeong
 * Kim Jung-yoon as Yeo Ji-eun
 * Cho Hyun-seo as Han Min-joo

Others

 * Kim Joo-hun as Namkoong Yi-hwan, prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutor Office and Sim Eun-seok's ex-husband.
 * Kim Young-ah as Heo Chan-mi, a member of Geobo Law Firm and lawyer in charge of Han Ye-eun and Shim Eun-seok, a classmate of a training academy.
 * Park Jong-hwan as Go Gang-sik, police officers dealing with cases of violence against children, women, youth and domestic violence
 * Yoo Jae-myung as Um Joon-gi, an assemblyman
 * Park Jung-yoon as Do Yoo-kyung
 * Shin Yeon-woo as Chi-hyeon, a detective in the female youth division. She solves child cases together with Go Kang-sik, the head of the department.
 * Jung Soo-bin as Baek Mi-joo, a young criminal in an unlicensed hit-and-run case.
 * Jeon Guk-hyang as Yoo Hye-sun

Development
Netflix in November 2020 confirmed the production of original series Juvenile Justice. It was also confirmed that Hong Jong-chan will direct the series with Kim Hye-soo playing Sim Eun-seok, a newly appointed judge. The series will revolve around issues of the juvenile statutes, and daily lives and concerns of juvenile court judges. On January 27, 2023, it was reported that the production of season 2 has been canceled.

Casting
In December 2020 casting of Kim Mu-yeol and Lee Sung-min as main lead was confirmed.

Filming
On May 4, it was reported that Kim Hye-soo was filming Netflix's series Juvenile Justice.

Audience response
For two weeks in a row, from February 28 to March 6, and March 7 to March 13, Juvenile Justice garnered 45.93 million and 25.94 million viewing hours, respectively, and was Number 1 in Netflix's "Global Top 10" weekly list of the most-watched non-English television shows.

Critical response
Joel Keller of Decider reviewing the series wrote, "Juvenile Justice is about as close to an American-style procedural as Netflix or Korean TV gets. We hope we get a little more backstory on the main character, but the cases might just be compelling enough to keep our interest."

Pierce Conran of the South China Morning Post gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "A grounded actors showcase that explores juvenile delinquency in a tightly woven frame of jurisprudence which occasionally shifts into a very melodramatic gear."