Findings show that even after controlling for the size of the at-risk juvenile population and inflation, there were more juveniles, more males, more minorities, and more violent offenders in more crowded, secure, and costly juvenile correctional facilities in 1995 than there were in the preceding years. With more juveniles being sent to fewer juvenile correctional facilities, the average length of stay has decreased over this same period. Without consideration of alternatives, it is likely that bed-space capacity will increase for juveniles, much as it has for adults over the past 20 years. And again, as with adults, with more capacity larger numbers of juveniles likely will be sent to juvenile correctional facilities. Nothing has stopped this cycle for adults. With juveniles increasingly identified as being responsible for much of the crime in the Nation, it is difficult to imagine how the number of children in custody will not continue to increase over the next several years. 15 figures, 25 notes, and 36 references