Prepared by the Division of Youth Services (DYS) and the Department of Social Services, this report presents the summary statistics of Missouri’s juvenile court system for calendar year 2002. The numbers presented are separately disposed court referrals and not individual children. In 2002, Missouri’s 45 juvenile courts disposed 80,381 referrals which is a 9 percent decrease from 1999 and an 8 percent decrease from 2001. Report highlights include: (1) males made up the larger portion in each racial grouping (Caucasian, African-American, and other) with males making up 65 percent of all referrals; (2) referrals to Missouri’s juvenile courts were broken down into the categories of law violations, status violations, abuse, neglect, and custody, court order violations, and municipal juveniles; (3) referrals came from many sources with referrals initiated by law enforcement as the primary source; (4) the most common allegation was status violation with males more likely to be referred for law violations than any other type of referral; (5) 75 percent of all referrals were informally disposed; (6) formal dispositions accounted for 25 percent of all referral outcomes; (7) a total of 8,827 referrals were placed out-of-home in 2002; (8) 11,636 referrals were detained prior to their hearing; and (9) the largest non-secure placement type was foster care. The remainder of the report is divided into three areas: law violation referrals, status offense referrals, and abuse, neglect, and custody referrals. Appendices A-I, charts and tables