Being the 'gatekeepers' of the juvenile justice system, the police have considerable discretion in the handling of juveniles. Juveniles may be cautioned rather than prosecuted if they admit to the offense, if their parents agree, if the complainant agrees, and if they are not arrested with others who are taken to court. If the police decide to take a juvenile to court, they may choose between criminal and care proceedings; however, the number of juveniles dealt with in care proceedings is negligible. In the adjudication process, juveniles are protected by an extensive system of right analogous to those applicable in adult courts. There is a wide range of dispositions for juveniles, with the fine and the supervision order being used most often. The method of dealing with juveniles at any given time depends mostly on political considerations and power, the beliefs of key people, and the vagaries of fashion, rather than upon empirical evaluative research. The trend has been toward an increase in the number of juveniles processed by the juvenile justice system as well as the number of those sent to institutions for offending. The English juvenile justice system needs more adequate research on the causes, prevention, and treatment of delinquency, which may become influential in policymaking. One table and 39 references are listed.