One question pervading the ongoing debate about juvenile diversion has been whether diversion programs produce results opposite the intended purppose by widening the justice net, thus bringing more youths under State control than would otherwise be the case. The study addresses the issue of net widening with data from a federally funded diversion project. Existing assessment strategies are discussed in relation to comparisons of youths diverted from and youths processed through, traditional justice channels in a seven-county area of a southern State. The findings offer conflicting evidence about net widening. Diverted youths are likely to be younger and less well known to official agencies than nondiverted youths. But diverted youths are also more likely than are nondiverted youths to be black and to be serious offenders. Such findings are difficult to interpret given conceptual and measurement problems in current evaluation approaches. These problems are discussed in terms of several forms net widening may take. Three tables, 1 figure, 4 notes, and about 25 references are provided. (Author abstract modified)