Following the lead of Minnesota, some other states are adopting what is referred to as a blended sentence for certain juvenile offenders -- usually those who have committed violent, but not extreme or murderous, crimes. Such sentences combine both a juvenile sentence and an adult one.

Normally, youths convicted of such crimes are tried as adults, spend time in an adult prison and emerge with adult criminal records. But in Minnesota, if they comply with the terms of the juvenile sentence -- which includes longer and more intensive supervision than a typical juvenile sanction -- they will eventually be released without the stain of an adult criminal record.

Supporters of this approach say it is a way to give offenders a choice of avoiding a life of crime or, if they fail, winding up in prison. Minnesota adopted its blended system three years ago, and about a dozen states -- including Kentucky, Oregon, Kansas and Connecticut -- have added some type of sentence that combines adult and juvenile systems.

• Last month Illinois passed a bill including such sentencing, and Ohio and North Carolina are considering similar approaches.

• Minnesota officials say that early results are cautiously promising, with fewer teenagers than expected ending up in adult prisons.

• And a Florida study found that juveniles tried as adults reverted to crime more quickly after release and committed more serious offenses than those treated as juveniles.

Opponents of juvenile-adult sentences, however, say they represent a reversion to soft-on-crime methods and characterize them as "country club criminology."