◎ Contents 1. Research ontext 2. Background Literature and Conceptual Apporach 3. Three Philosophies That Can Make a Differerence 4. Legislative Analysis, With Linda Szymanski 5. Youth Service Delivery in Seven Cities 6. State Mandates and Agency Service Delivery to Offenders With Margaret A. Gordon 7. State Offeners in Three Contrasting Settings 8. The Unserved Runaways in Three Cities, Margaret A.Little 9. Runaway Services ◎ Abstract This work provides an overview of the dominant philosophical approaches and practices in handling status offenders - the kinds of youth who habitually resist the control of their parents and schools, who run away from home, who drink and stay out after curfew. The three basic and competing social philosophies in responding to these troubled and troublesome youths are the treatment, deterrence, and normalization rationales. Local community services' response to status offenders in seven cities are investigated to determine whether local practices conform with the ideological thrusts embedded in state legislation.