This study bases the recidivism assessment on adjudicated cases rather than on police contacts, as was the case in the 1-year follow-up in the initial study. On average the juveniles were 15 years old at admission to the treatment facility. All of the subjects showed a wide range of severe behavioral problems at the time of admission. The behavioral problems of boys related mostly to delinquency; whereas, the girls mainly had problems related to running away from home and drug abuse. Most had a history of previous placements in various facilities, and more than half of them had police or criminal records prior to admission. In this study, every judicial contact that did not result in a dismissal on technical grounds or an acquittal is regarded as recidivism. Three years after release, the recidivism percentage was 57 percent, a significant increase from the 30 percent that had police contacts the first year after release. After two more years, the recidivism increase was less sharp. Factors that related to judicial contacts after release were gender (male), previous judicial record, a high number of previous judicial contacts, and young age at first referral to a youth institution or a foster home. On average the 225 recidivists had one or two new criminal cases each year. The mean time between two contacts was more than 20 months. The report advises that the absence of a control group precludes a satisfactory interpretation of the results. 8 tables and 13 references