Currently, juvenile justice is viewed as comparable with the adult criminal justice system with its emphasis on due process, accountability, responsibility, and punishment. However, there is a call for a balanced system that would not oversimplify a complex process with rigid thinking, but would instead recognize the diversity of offenders and the need for a variety of approaches. The critical need is for greater long-term prevention efforts to strengthen key social institutions, including family, school, and community. A comparative analysis of recent juvenile delinquents and persons-in-need cohorts, using profile-data for juvenile offenders in the Family Division of Nassau County Probation Department (New York), was overrepresented with minorities and lower socioeconomic status levels. Median family income levels were found to vary with type of court disposition. In general, the less restrictive, the disposition the higher the income level. 24 tables, 13 notes.