The sample consisted of all juveniles committed to a residential facility for murder between 1978 and 1986 after the enactment of the 1978 New York State Juvenile Offender Act. The murders were classified in one of two categories: criminal enterprise or cause-specific. In the criminal-enterprise category, the offender focuses on the business of crime. The offender intends to obtain some personal gain for an individual or group. When the crime involves a self-intent motive, the classification is cause-specific. These homicides include a host of intentions that are idiosyncratic to the perpetrator. As a total sample, the offenders are male and come from a household of two or more siblings where the dominant caretaker is the mother who does the child rearing alone. There is a high incidence of truancy and delinquency in the group, and there is a relationship between alcohol and drug abuse. These findings support the literature on characteristics of juvenile murderers. The offense classification suggests a split between young males who carry out the violent act independently as opposed to being involved with a codefendant. Those involved in codefendant murder most often are armed with guns and knives and tend to assault male victims. Treatment implications are drawn. 21 references