CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY BILL 3121 PROVIDES THAT STATUS OFFENDERS NOT BE INSTITUTIONALIZED WITH DELINQUENT YOUTH IN EITHER DETENTION OR TREATMENT FACILITIES. IN ADDITION, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NONSECURE ENVIRONMENTS KNOWN AS 'ATTENTION HOMES' IS ORDERED, WITH SERVICES FROM COMMUNITY AGENCIES SECURED FOR THE CLIENTS. TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF THE NEW LAW, BASELINE DATA WERE COLLECTED ON ALL JUVENILES REFERRED TO JUVENILE HALL INTAKE FOR THE 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW LAW (DECEMBER 1, 1976). COMPARISON DATA WERE THEN COLLECTED ON ALL JUVENILES PROCESSED AND REFERRED TO ATTENTION HOMES FOR THE 10 MONTHS FOLLOWING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW LAW. GROSS POPULATION COMPARISONS SHOWED THE FOLLOWING: A REDUCTION OF ABOUT 15 PERCENT IN THE OVERALL REFERRAL RATE TO JUVENILE HALL; AN INCREASE OF 13 PERCENT IN THE '602' POPULATION (DELINQUENT CRIMES); A DECREASE OF 54 PERCENT IN THE '601' POPULATION (STATUS OFFENDERS); AN INCREASE OF 24 PERCENT IN CHARGES INVOLVING ALCOHOL; AND A PROJECTED DECLINE OF 4 PERCENT IN THE JUVENILE HALL POPULATION. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STATUS OFFENDER POPULATION BEFORE AND AFTER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW SHOWED THE ATTENTION HOME POPULATION DOUBLED AFTER IMPLEMENTATION; THE FEMALE POPULATION INCREASED BY 12 PERCENT, AND THE CAUCASIAN POPULATION INCREASED BY 7 PERCENT. IN EXAMINING RUNAWAY BEHAVIOR OF THOSE IN ATTENTION HOMES, IT WAS FOUND THAT FEMALES RAN AWAY MORE FREQUENTLY, 14 YEAR OLDS ACCOUNTED FOR A GREATER PERCENTAGE THAN THEY REPRESENTED IN THE POPULATION, AND RUNAWAYS TENDED TO HAVE ARREST HISTORIES MORE HEAVILY WEIGHTED WITH 601 CHARGES THAN THE NONRUNAWAY POPULATION. ALSO, IT WAS FOUND THAT 21 PERCENT OF THE RUNAWAY POPULATION LEFT WITHIN THE FIRST 5 HOURS OF PLACEMENT, AND 28 PERCENT RAN OFF 2 OR MORE TIMES. FOLLOWUP STUDIES ON CLIENT BEHAVIOR INDICATED THAT 24 PERCENT OF THE ATTENTION HOME POPULATION HAD CHARGES OF 602 CRIMES BROUGHT AGAINST THEM WITHIN 5 MONTHS AFTER LEAVING THE HOME.