A forward by Senator Arlen Specter surveys Federal deinstitutionalization efforts since 1974. A child psychologist discusses policy and research on the characteristics of status offenders and their families, the nature of their offenses, and the scope and effectiveness of attempts to help them. He argues that status offenders who recidivate do so as repeat status offenders, thus refuting the notion that they are predelinquent and that they need services aimed at the delinquent population. Although deinsitutionalization and diversion efforts have reduced the incarceration of status offenders, they may not have provided more or better services for these youths. Another contributor outlines legislative reforms curbing the court's jurisdiction over status offenders, along with relevant State appellate and Federal court decisions. Laws on separate classifications for status offenders, the use of secure detention, and procedural rights in status offense cases are covered. The author notes that police interest in taking status offenders into custody is declining, as are the numbers of status offenders held in secure detention and placed in delinquent institutions. A final commentary describes the perspective taken by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency on the institutionalization of status offenders. The 1,000 works cited in the bibliography are key-worded to seven specialized bibliographies: status offenders and offenses, truants, runaways, ungovernable juveniles, policy and law, disposition and treatment, and recent reports (1980-82).