The Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS), which is the state agency responsible for handling juvenile offenders committed by the courts, has undergone several stages of organizational change in the past two decades. What is unusual about this state is that none of the transformations were forced by legislative mandate, as has been the case in many other jurisdictions. Amidst widespread public controversy calling for reforms to the juvenile justice system, change in DYS was in fact steered at important junctures by key juvenile justice advocates to ensure the development of DYS's rehabilitative model, even for seriously violent offenders. This article analyzes three waves of change activity that led to the present community-based system. The article describes the techniques of political negotiation that successfully affirmed DYS's ideological priorities.
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