The first section examines such placement issues as contemporary thought about services to children in out-of-home care and exemplary foster care practice; placement of emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children in out-of-State residential facilities; out-of-State placement practices in New York and New Jersey; and improvement of interstate compacts for the placement of children. Policy issues are examined regarding trying youth as adults; these include the appropriateness of waiver, the essential elements of a coherent, defensible waiver policy, the prevention theory as a basis for the philosophy of waiver, and the legal issues which arise before and during the waiver process. In addition, the effect of the New York State Juvenile Offender Law of 1978 on reducing juvenile crime and on bringing more blacks into juvenile institutions and prisons is examined. Additional articles describe an improved judicial waiver process, support the waiver mechanism's function of removing certain juveniles from the juvenile court system, and analyze the sentencing differences when young people are tried in juvenile court and when they are tried as adults in criminal court. A final article argues that the current nationwide trend to exclude violent juveniles from the juvenile court reflects the growing disillusionment with the medical model associated with juvenile courts. Major policy issues discussed in the final section on juvenile court services include the power of mandamus and local funding; the issues of due process, parens patriae, conflicts of interest, and conflicts of role; problems of proper function and location; control issues of operation versus monitoring; the responsibility issues of diversion and prevention; and the structure and function of juvenile court services. Footnotes and tabular data are included. An extensive list of books, periodicals, and unpublished research material cited in the articles is appended.