The act represents the first attempt in India to create a uniform, national body of law and system of justice and corrections for young people. Except for the fact that each state is given considerable latitude regarding the specific design and operation of courts and correctional programs, the act is a model of juvenile justice standardization for large, diverse, and multicultural societies such as India. Although the law encompasses both offenders and nonoffenders, rather distinctive procedures to process and deal with these two categories of young people are detailed. Juvenile delinquents are handled by special juvenile courts, while neglected juveniles are handled by special juvenile welfare boards. Juvenile delinquency and youth crime rates are relatively low in India, and arrest statistics indicate the number of incarcerated juveniles has decreased since implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act. Reasons for enacting the law and the law's effect on changes in Indian society are addressed. 57 references and 2 tables