Using the records from a southern Ontario police force, researchers examined the files of 142 juveniles who had been charged or cautioned for offenses under the Juvenile Delinquents Act from the time of contact in 1976 to 1980. The goal was to determine whether those juveniles who had been charged and appeared before the juvenile court were more likely to have subsequent contacts with the justice system (the labeling effect) than those juveniles who had been cautioned and released by the police, and whether subsequent offenses were more serious than those of cautioned juveniles. Findings showed that the mean number of subsequent contacts for official delinquencies was 2.65 for the charged group and 1.92 for the cautioned group. Thus, these study findings refute the labeling hypothesis that youths who are caught and officially labeled as delinquent will commit more serious delinquent acts in the future. Three tables and nine references are provided.