The DTO provides that offenders under 18 years old who are given custodial sentences are to serve half of their sentence in a secure institution and the second half in the community. The treatment program for each juvenile is to have continuity across both segments of the DTO. The objectives of this assessment of the DTO's operation in England and Wales over its first 2 years focused on its consistency and appropriateness, barriers and facilitators in its implementation, its effect on overall custody rates, its effectiveness in preventing reoffending, other effects on individuals, and its lessons for good practice. The 3-stage design of the assessment consisted of a systematic description of the DTO's application, tracking the progress of a sample of approximately 300 initial recipients of the DTO, and a follow-up assessment of rates of rearrest and violations of the order for the sample. The assessment found that the custody-community combination worked well over its first 2 years. Generally, the targeted population of habitual and serious juvenile offenders received DTOs. Cooperation between institutional staff and Youth Offending Teams who supervised youth in the community was widespread, including joint planning for sentence implementation. The implementation of the DTO, however, was inconsistent in matching programs with a juvenile's needs. The coordination of multiple resources and the services of various agencies in meeting a juvenile's needs was often weak, both in the institutional phase and the community phase. Half of the youth in the sample failed to comply with all of the conditions of their supervision period, and 42 percent were rearrested during the community period of the DTO. 14 figures, 40 references, and appended case studies