This study was conducted to accomplish four objectives: (1) determine the current status of vocational education services available to youth under the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS); (2) assess the characteristics of DYS youth and their need for additional vocational programs; (3) determine employer and labor union attitudes toward training or hiring juvenile ex offenders; and (4) develop specific proposals for pilot programs. Data were obtained by interviews with fifty DYS personnel and other providers of services to DYS clients, nine vocational school personnel, and sixty-four DYS clients. Data were also obtained from a national survey of other state programs and from a questionnaire mailed to 740 employers and 250 labor representatives in Massachusetts. Study findings and recommendations include the following: (1) a lack of appropriate education programs for DYS youth (programs should be flexibly structured, fairly short in duration, have clearly defined goals, and offer hands-on training and individual attention); (2) age restriction on many jobs (allow youth to stay in a program until he/she is eighteen or change job-age restrictions); (3) incomplete intake procedures at DYS (vocational training needs of clients should be given substantial weight in placement procedures); and (4) a lack of prevocational education programs for DYS youth (offer all DYS youth a two-part program consisting of work readiness and career exploration components). (JH)