Each youth released from a DYS institution was tracked for a standardized 2-year follow-up period to determine whether he was returned to a State juvenile correctional institution or was committed to the Wisconsin adult prison system. In addition, the study assessed the relationship between recidivism within 2 years and selected client characteristics such as age, gender, race, prior adjudication experience, committing offense, educational level, and living arrangement. The study also used a standardized 4-year follow-up period to track youths released during 1990 to determine their longer-term incidence of correctional institutional recidivism. This longer follow-up period was used to permit the identification of entries into adult prison. Findings show that of the 745 youths who were released from Wisconsin's juvenile correctional institutions for the first time during 1992, 316 (42.4 percent) were reinstitutionalized within 2 years. Further, the study found that 34.2 percent of the 1990 releasees entered adult prison within 4 years. Of the youths released from juvenile correctional institutions since 1986, there have been increases in the proportion who are male or minorities; offenders are being committed to juvenile institutions at a younger age, and they have greater educational needs upon admission. 8 tables