User Reviews

The series is fast moving although it is only 10 episodes in total. All the casts are excellent in their portrayal of the characters - including the perpetrators and victims. I am impressed with Judge Sim for standing her grounds on her believes in the way the juveniles should be treated to correct their behaviours for the future.

It's very dramatic and emotional series but I like it. The acting is good and it has solid story line. Not boring at all. I'm happy that Netflix Korea has brought another good Korean series.

I stumbled upon this series while scrolling through Netflix, looked into the first episode and it hit me like a truck. Juvenile Justice really came out of left field for me, and in retrospect I'm really thankful for the experience.

The story revolves around Shim Eun Seok (Kim Hye-su), a juvenile court judge who appears stone cold and lays down the law with an iron fist on young offenders, while also battling her own demons of the past deep inside. The juvenile justice system is highly divisive, conflicting and heavily overloaded, laying not only the sentencing and punishment of juvenile offenders on the court but even the aftercare and oversight on the judges themselves. While the law treats them as children who are scarcely accountable for their own actions, often it doesn't defend victims or take their circumstances into account, what lead them down this path. Domestic violence, neglect, mistreatment, bullying, often very hard to properly prosecute. On the other hand, many young criminals straight up expect to get off with nothing but probation and a slap on the wrist while committing very real crimes, theft, robbery, blackmail, prostitution, grievous violence and even murder, fully aware of their actions. Judge Shim sails the muddy waters of this tattered legal embroglio to try and truly punish young criminals and bring absolution to the victims of the system.

Honestly, I was truly surprised by this series! I half expected a confusing and boring TV schlock, filled with incessant jargon and theatrical melodrama. But what I got was a very intense, high quality, easily digestible (for a legal series), very binge-worthy story and some of the best acting I've seen in a while! Kim Hye-su completely dominates the role of Judge Shim. Coming off as a stone cold, no-nonsense inquisitor who absolutely throws the book at young criminals trying to slip through the cracks, while she slowly learns that the juvenile court is not only there to punish but also to teach, reform and protect those fallen by the wayside and wronged by the system.

The production quality is excellent! The camera work, direction and even the few special effects are way higher quality than one would expect from a TV series of this kind. This far excuses some of the plotholes and the sometimes wooden acting by some of the support cast. I usually don't like kids in series and movies, but I have to say, the young cast brings their A-game and believable acting throughout the series, which was really refreshing. The story goes at breakneck speeds, filled with lots of detail, action, intrigue, investigations and hard choices which makes the series feel a lot longer than 10 episodes. There's never a dull moment watching Judge Shim and co going above and beyond their line of duty to get to the truth and render a truly just verdict in the end.

All in all, I highly recommend Juvenile Justice to anyone looking for an intense court drama with a flair for complexity and some action on the side!

This Netflix original series is the saddest and one of the best show i have ever seen. Juvenile Justice is so well-written and it deserves more recognition! It depicts so many social issues about young offenders, mirroring someone's reality in a heartbreaking way. The plot, characters, acting, and every aspects are just remarkable.

Well, it is a shame but it was a real case in Korea few years ago that two juveniles have butchered a little kid. Also it is a serious issue in Korea that the laws and punishments are very weak including juvenile justice. All the episodes were based on real cases in Korea that were major juvenile issues in recent few years. This drama has shown serious issues in Korea and dealt some cases to help people realize that juvenile crimes are not minor crimes anymore but they have become serious crimes. I really wanna say that the actors have done great jobs.

And before you judge "Asian" dramas for different cultures that you don't understand, I really recommend you to look up their cultures before, after or while you watch them because that's what most Asian people would do when they watch "Non-Asian" dramas.

I found this series to be very touching, bringing lots of emotions to the fore. It has an important social message concerning the delicacies of raising children in the correct manner. Superb acting with excellent scripts and filmography. All in all it is a very intelligent series well worth watching.

Kim Hye Su delivers her lines with so much conviction and mental prowess her persona alone influences those around her that are morally feeble and need proper cultivation but also rectifies on behalf of those quiet unheard defeated voices at large.

The series is about the cases of a judge in a juvenile court who detests young offenders due to events in her past. It is well acted with the background to each case and then the procedures where justice is supposedly served. It has interesting cases but I found it a depressing watch as there was no levity in any of the episodes just poor parents, abused children and horrible events. An interesting series with a strong central character but very little development on the histories of the rest of the cast and lots of information about the workings of the juvenile justice system.

Very few tv series are able to illustrate and interpret social, humanity issues as thoroughly and deeply as Jevenile Juistice. Some of the most important should be "It takes the whole village to raise a person" and "Everyone could be the victim."

This show touch all part of case the criminal, the victim, the families. You will see each side of emotions its not just court room darma its journal of emotions. In last episode in few last mints my heart exploded.. the pain of a mother. Kim did a fantastic job ..love her.

Nothing to say, just watch it :)

All episodes are based on true crimes.

It is just by far my favorite law related Korean TV-series.

It is just epic. I finished all episodes in one day.

Parents are the GURU not just a teacher for a child. In Bengali parenting is called ' manus kora' which means making of a human being. This series shows us the effect of neglecting the children and also the effect of too much care. This also shows how bad judgment can bring more crimes.

Overall this series gives a very good social message.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I want to make sure someone unfamiliar with Korea is not deceived by this show or some of the information on this board. It seems I also have to define what "dramatized" means. The Korean legal system has a special set of laws for kids under 14. That is the main issue the show is trying to tackle. Some of the crimes depicted in the show did happen. However, the show has purposely lowered the age of the criminals to make it more shocking and fit the narrative of "under the age of 14." Lastly, "NO," judges in Korea do not go chasing after suspects. When you take an actual event and embellish it with outrageous details, that's dramatization.

UPDATED REVIEW: I've managed to watch a few more episodes. Unfortunately, I am lowering my rating from an 8 to a 6. While the subject matter is interesting and the acting remains strong, the show fails to deliver on many ends.

The drama attempts to tackle a very serious issue that has been at the center of controversy in Korea for a while. The show is stacked with a solid lineup of veteran actors who have demonstrated their acting skills in dozens of works and I have no doubt that they will not disappoint here. Having viewed the first couple of episodes, I do find that the story is somewhat over dramatized. Perhaps the show runners felt that taking a more realistic approach may lessen the entertainment value. I think a more subtle approach may have been more effective in bringing the issue to the forefront of discussion.

10 episodes is just not long enough.

Watched the whole series in one day.

The acting and the raw emotions it brought out is superb.

Just watch it.you will be hooked as well.

I was fascinated by the exploration of the justice system of another country, but as soon as the judge turned into a vigilante investigator instead of doing things realistically by going to the police, I lost interest.

Seriously, if you're going to chase bad guys as a judge, you should have to wear the robe while doing it, because it's ridiculous.

Too many shows do that: if the premise of your show is interesting, why ruin it with unrealistic details?

6/10, it was a 9/10 until the foot chase.

I don't understand why people here complain about a drama being a drama.

I mean, the series are created to warn us what happens if we, adults, fail in parenting juvenile. The director perhaps has his/her intention in doing so. The important this is what comes in your mind after watching this. The great series always leave spaces for its audience to think.

Each character has their own storyline and this is very well-delivered by actors. All actors have magnificent skills in delivering lines that could be cringe in a clear and effective way. There is no right or wrong answers in reality, so as the characters' belief. It is all about discussing and finding the best answer of what WE could do for a juvenile. By caring and paying attention on social issues or by funding childcare centres? This is the message that the series demonstrate and, I think it is our responsibility to make an action.

"It takes a village to raise a child." I would say, this is the best series that could ever describe the true meaning of this phrase.

And it is.

Apparently it takes stories from headlines and delves into them - and dramatizes them. Like they do sometimes on all the Law and Order franchises.

The two episodes that I just could NOT NOT NOT buy were when the judges themselves were soooooo involved in the cases and did NOT NOT NOT recuse themselves but jumped in feet first and fought to do so. It absolutely ruined the series for me. From then on - I looked for problems.

Apparently Korean dramas are more dramatic than Western dramas are. That also put me off a bit, but not a lot. But some.

This was a good series. Well done and worth the watch - mostly. But certainly not as sensational as others thought it was. And that's okay!

Watch it and decide for yourself! I hope it's a 10 for you!!

Absolutely ridiculous. It might seem like a serious drama at first but its so over-the-top its basically nonsense. Every episode devolves into kids being beaten to death for ridiculous reasons. It reminds me of some after school special trying to scare kids.

I heard Korean dramas are very popular all over south east Asia and especially in China. I'm starting to see why, as all k-dramas I have watched were great (move to heaven, squid game, my name).

The characters are shown very well and I could relate quickly. The cases made me think about law and justice. The pace is just right, the story thrilling and touching.

Sometimes I'm not sure whether something is Korean culture or individual character e.g. Bosses seem to yell a lot, and there is a strong hierarchy of respect between people, whereas in western culture everyone is more equal, irrespective of age and position (at least compared to as it's shown in juvenile justice). One case is about the education system where I also think some background info would be helpful to research upfront.

This left me a tiny bit confused at times.

9/10

PS: im not criticizing the show for showing Korean culture, just stating it may make some situations seem weird for westerners.

Surprisingly good! For me it was a roller coaster of emotions and even had me shed some tears in some episodes. All the cast did wonderful job acting 👏 👏👏.

I saw other comments that said "bad acting" and "medium acting" and I'm asking myself, are they tone-death or did they watch the same show OR did they watch it with English dubbing? Never watch anything with dubbing unless you're doing two things at once. It's never the same!