The juvenile court’s approval of Butte County Probation Department’s policy of allowing only those minors who admit an offense to participate in an informal supervision program was an abuse of discretion. The law requires an individualized assessment of a minor’s suitability to participate in informal supervision based on specified criteria, not including categorical exclusion for those minors who refuse to admit an offense. Therefore, where a minor charged with misdemeanor sexual battery for pinching a classmate on the buttocks was excluded from an informal supervision program because he refused to admit the offense, a petition for writ of mandate was granted, and the court ordered the department to allow the minor to participate in its informal supervision program.