Attention is paid to legal, social, demeanor-related, and demographic variables as they impinge on intake decisionmaking. The major finding of this study is that the farther one goes into the intake decisionmaking process, the more does family disaffiliation become the prominent independent variable. The article places this area of research within relevant criminological paradigms (positivist, interactionist, neo-Marxist), summarizes the existing empirical findings, and integrates theory and evidence with the goal of producing a statement on this screening stage in the juvenile justice endeavor. (Author abstract)