The first examined court dispositions across an area of southwest and central west Ontario which encompasses 40 percent of the province's juvenile population. Data were collected for a 5-month period during the first two years of implementation of the Young Offenders Act (YOA). Similar data were collected for the preceding year, during which time the Juvenile Delinquents Act was in operation. The second study examined dispositions of young persons who were referred to the London Family Court Clinic during the Juvenile Delinquents Act period and during the YOA period. The Clinic sample comprises a select group of young offenders who have been considered by a youth court judge as possessing some special need by virtue of presenting circumstances or offense history. If a hypothesis referred to earlier in this article is correct, (i.e., deterrence through punishment is the model of choice under the YOA), then even young offenders with special needs will be given dispositions related to crime control (i.e., custody) rather than dispositions related to their special needs. Tables, endnotes