The Annie E. Case Foundation is committed to exploring effective alternatives to juvenile detention, and thus launched the multi-year, multi-site project called the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) in 1992. Three sites ended up participating in JDAI, with the goal of increasing effective alternatives to juvenile detention. This report focuses on challenges and lessons learned during this pilot project, especially in regards to racial sentencing disparities in the juvenile justice system. Chapter 1 discusses why jurisdictions should focus on racial sentencing disparities in their efforts to improve the effectiveness of the juvenile justice system and reduce incarceration rates among youth. Nationwide, the number of juveniles held in detention facilities increased 72 percent between 1985 and 1995; with juveniles of color representing most of the juvenile detainees. Chapter 2 presents guiding principles for reducing disproportionate minority confinement (DMC) in juvenile detention facilities. Racism at both an individual level and at an institutional level should be examined and rooted out and efforts at reducing DMC should be data-driven. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the problem of DMC, including its scope and causes. The impacts of arrest and police policies and the consequences of indigent defense on minority youth are reviewed. Structural inequalities at the societal level, coupled with a lack of individual resources, serve to make alternatives to detention out of the reach of many minority youth. Chapter 4 presents lessons learned from the three JDAI sites regarding effective ways of reducing racial disparities in juvenile detention. Strategies that each site employed to reduce the numbers of minority youth held in detention are presented. Strategies varied, but generally began with research regarding the numbers of minority youth in custody and the reasons for their detention. Other strategies included work toward multicultural family violence prevention and cultural diversity training for all juvenile justice staff. Chapter 5 presents 10 lessons learned from the 3 JDAI sites on how to curb racial disparities in juvenile detention practices. A list of selected readings about racial disparities within the juvenile and criminal justice systems and a list of resources on how to reduce such racial disparities are provided. Figures, notes