Massachusetts’ Juvenile Justice Reform Act allows youths between the ages of 14 and 16 to be charged as Youthful Offenders (YOs) if their criminal charges and background meet certain criteria. Massachusetts’ Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) prepared this report to document the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Reform Act and how it has affected offenders charged as YOs under the Act. The SAC analyzed juvenile court data from the Massachusetts Office of the Commissioner of Probation for the year 1997. The data contained information about juveniles charged as YOs for certain eligible crimes. This report does not contain information about all juvenile crime or even about all YOs; it only contains data about certain eligible crimes. The SAC also conducted interviews with juvenile justice system personnel to determine how the Juvenile Justice Reform Act is being implemented. Data for this report is offered in statistical form with a great deal of narrative explanation of the data. Data is offered for such topics as juveniles in adult correctional facilities; prosecution and sentencing of juvenile offenders; and a breakdown of youthful offenders and delinquents by age, gender, and race. Overall, the SAC found that the number of juveniles charged as YOs was relatively small compared with the number of juveniles simply charged as delinquents for the same crimes. This shows that the juvenile justice system takes this very seriously and considers the harsh consequences of charging a juvenile as a YO. References, appendices