The preface notes that the elimination of the longstanding institution-based system is the most important goal for the next century and cautions that prevailing routines and agendas will quickly thwart reform efforts that are premised on leaving the existing system intact. The first five readings provide a historical critique of the juvenile justice system, examine the system's inherent contractions, describe the political factors that have perpetuated the system, and explore the need to reaffirm rehabilitation as the system's underlying philosophy. They also present findings of a poll that reveals that the public supports policies emphasizing prevention and intervention over incarceration. The next section examines juvenile delinquency rates and patterns, including the offending patterns of serious violent offenders and on data on the concentration of juvenile homicides in a few cities and States. The next three chapters explore the current status of juvenile correctional institutions and note that juvenile correctional systems usually mirror the violence and brutality of the adult correctional system and that sex discrimination exists in the handling of juvenile offenders. The final five papers examine the closing of the Massachusetts training schools as an example of the process and lessons of the most sweeping juvenile correctional reform ever, and present the experiences and insights of noted reform experts regarding strategies and rationales for downsizing institutional systems and reallocating resources to a range of quality interventions. Figures, tables, and chapter notes and reference lists