Although the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 does not specify the primary purpose of the Special Emphasis Program, it is generally categorized as serving a dual function of research/demonstration and service delivery. A General Accounting Office (GAO) review was held to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the management of the program. The results indicated that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention did not recognize the need to operate the two programs in a different manner. GAO found that the office's policies and procedures primarily addressed service delivery and virtually ignored research/demonstration. In response to these findings, the Department of Justice, although disagreeing on some points, stated that corrective action would be taken. (JAC)