The introduction of police cautioning and diversion for juveniles involVed in minor offenses was hailed as a means of introducing less formalism, less ritual, more speed, and more efficiency into the handling of juveniles. The study of Geoffrey Pearson (1984) and others (Phillips, 1977; Donzelot, 1979) has shown that each aspect of juvenile justice reform and has shown that each aspect of juvenile justice reform and 'progress' has inflated the numbers of juveniles contacted by juvenile justice personnel and other social control agents. The surveillance, regulation, and intervention in the lives of juveniles has thus increased under cautioning and diversion measures. Juvenile behavior that would have been previously ignored by police has now been placed under increased police scrutiny and diversionary processing. Although juveniles subjected to a caution and diversion are not formally processed by the juvenile court system, they are processed by an expanded informal system that involves intervention, supervision, and behavioral monitoring. This constitutes a new regulatory institution for minor delinquency. 74 references.