On October 31, 1989, the board of directors of the National Juvenile Detention Association unanimously adopted a definition of juvenile detention. It states that juvenile detention is "the temporary and safe custody of juveniles who are accused of conduct subject to the jurisdiction of the court who require a restricted environment for their own or the community's protection while pending legal action." The definition also states that juvenile detention provides "a wide range of helpful services that support the juvenile's physical, emotional, and social development." Under this definition of detention, detention prevents deviant behaviors and also provides therapeutic services. Using the preventive and therapeutic functions as the goals of detention, another controversy arises regarding the objectives of detention, which involves ways of achieving its goals. The objectives rest on how detention is viewed, whether as a "place" or a "process." Detention as a place emphasizes the physical structure of detention, i.e., the building and its physical characteristics. Detention as process focuses on the intensity of services, quality of care, quality of staff and their relationships with juveniles and their families, and the philosophy of detention. Remaining portions of this article explain the nature of graduated sanctions and the continuum of care, which have implications for the concept of detention as a process rather than a certain type of facility. 46 references