THE DATA REPRESENT THE MOST EXTENSIVE PUBLICLY REPORTED INFORMATION EVER ASSEMBLED REGARDING JUVENILES AND THEIR SYSTEM OF JUSTICE. THE DATA BASE CONSISTS OF 584,116 CASES THAT REPRESENT THE TOTALS REPORTED FROM JURISDICTIONS WHOSE POPULATIONS REPRESENT ABOUT 42 PERCENT OF THE ENTIRE U.S. POPULATION. LIKEWISE, THE CHILD POPULATION AT-RISK (FROM THE AGE OF 10 TO THE UPPER AGE OF JUVENILE COURT JURISDICTION FOR A PARTICULAR STATE) REPRESENTS ABOUT 41 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL CHILD POPULATION AT-RISK. FOR EACH CASE, THE DATA PRESENTED ARE GENERALLY AGE, SEX, RACE, SOURCE OF REFERRAL, IF DETAINED, HOW DETAINED, PRIOR REFERRALS IN THE SAME YEAR AND PREVIOUS YEARS, MANNER OF HANDLING, DISPOSITION, AND TIME IN THE SYSTEM (DATE OF DISPOSITION LESS DATE OF REFERRAL). A UNIFORM FORMAT WAS DEVELOPED FOR ALL REPORTING JURISDICTIONS BASED UPON DATA ELEMENTS MOST FREQUENTLY REPORTED BY THE JURISDICTIONS; AND A 'DATA DICTIONARY' PROVIDES MEANINGS FOR ALL TERMS USED IN THE TABLES. HOWEVER, THE DATA BASE IS A NONRANDOMLY ACQUIRED SAMPLE, AND AS SUCH, IT REQUIRES SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR OBTAINING NATIONAL ESTIMATES; THE PROCESS FOR OBTAINING THE ESTIMATES IS DISCUSSED. THE REPORT ALSO PERMITS CROSSTABULATION FOR ANSWERING SPECIALIZED RESEARCH QUESTIONS, AND PROVIDES A BASE FOR COMPARING FUTURE YEARS' DELINQUENT ACTIVITY TO THAT OF 1975. THE ADDITION OF FUTURE DATA WILL PERMIT COHERENT ANALYSIS, TRENDING, AND THE MEASUREMENT OF SYSTEM PROCESSING. (RCB)