"Juvenile Justice"-An Intense K-Drama That May Make You Think Harder Than Usual

I guess I've become a sucker for Korean legal drama of many kinds, right? I remembered how watching Kill It was pretty much a start followed up by Justice. Both dramas were eye candy filled with Jin A Nana. Later, I watched Pride and Prejudice, Suspicious Partner, Witch in Court, Partners for Justice, and Voice. I did enjoy the time travel of Tunnel and the insane action of Lawless Lawyer. Now, Top Ten in Netflix Philippines has Juvenile Justice--a fictional story that may make you question why juvenile justice happens in the first place. There's so many spoilers so if you haven't watched it--go watch it first!

Judge Shim Yeo Seok (Kim Hye Soo) is a Miriam Defensor-Santiago type of character with her job. As a judge, I admire how she really means business especially in nailing down juvenile delinquents. Along with her is her subordinate Judge Cha Tae Joo (Kim Mu Yeol) whose actor also portrayed a detective in City of Evil. The two have conflicts along the way since Judge Shim tends to be extremely fierce at times. Judge Cha tends to be that voice of reason between the both of them. The imperfections of the two characters start to work for the common good. Judge Cha used to be delinquent but he was given a straight path. Meanwhile, Judge Shim has a very dark past that has caused her to become like the late MDS of the Philippines in dealing with cases. 

There are a lot of cases brought up. In fact, I like how the American justice system was brought in regards to minor offenders. Some of the cases involve faulty guardians (namely the elders) and why the juvenile cases happen. Some cases here also show why children do what they do. Some are just misunderstood while others have bad influence with the guardians. Judge Shim starts to explore why certain cases happen this and that way. I liked how a rehabilitation home for teenage girls, a reckless driving case, and a gang rape case all try to tie in with faulty guardians.

Every case is rather compelling. Every one hour episode is full of suspense. I feel the absence of fancy martial arts, more focused on courtroom, investigations. I'm no criminologist but watching these shows make me explore something outside my comfort zone. True, I'm squeamish for blood but it has helped me view how laws concerning minor offenders can be corrected by meeting a sensible balance.