The rules are intended to help member States treat and handle young persons in conflict with the law in the juvenile justice system framework. The rules establish principles for safeguarding the well-being, status, rights, and interests of youth and aim to ensure their fair treatment by juvenile justice systems worldwide. They provide for strict limits on the use of juvenile detention, maximum use of community-based modalities, offender classification, professionalization of personnel, and specialized facilities and services. They also favor raising the lower age limit of criminal responsibility, giving juveniles legal rights comparable to those accorded adults, intersectoral coordination, and the use of scientific research as a foundation for program development. Nearly all respondent governments have reported efforts to disseminate the rules to competent authorities and concerned ministries, agencies, and individuals. Several governments have enacted or initiated major legislative reform in areas of substantive and/or procedural law that affect juvenile justice. Most countries report that separate juvenile courts have been or are being established; that community involvement in juvenile justice administration is being intensified; and that priority attention is being paid to research on youth crime, juvenile delinquency prevention, and juvenile justice administration. Institutional reforms undertaken by Canada, India, and Italy in applying the rules are summarized.