This document presents statistics on the characteristics of first commitments from the California Youth Authority (CYA). Offense categories used in the report include violent offenses, property offenses, narcotic and drug offenses, and others. Several highlights of first commitment characteristics are reported: (1) from 1985 to 1986, CYA commitments increased by two percent; (2) ethnic minorities constituted 72% of 1986 CYA commitments; (3) violent offenders represented 38% of 1986 commitments; (4) of CYA cases committed in 1986 who were in the job market, 77% were unemployed; (5) most (73%) of 1986 CYA cases were living in the parental home at the time of commitment; (6) over 50% of 1986 CYA cases had family members with criminal records; and (7) major problems identified as contributing to antisocial behavior of CYA cases committed in 1986 were negative influence of peer groups and mental-emotional problems. A summary of items is provided in the areas of sex, court of commitment, county of commitment, primary commitment offense, ethnic group, age, escape record, co-offenders, physical handicaps, school grade, reading comprehension, arithmetic reasoning, prior convictions or commitments, religion, family history, neighborhood characteristics, problem areas, and employment. The major part of the report consists of three data tables of statistics which support the highlights and summary sections. (NB)