OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the feasibility and toxicity of bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (BEACOPP) induction in pediatric patients with previously untreated stage II, stage III, or stage IV Hodgkin's disease. II. Determine rates of complete response and rapid early partial response (defined as greater than 70% reduction in the size of a bulky mediastinal mass or nodal aggregate and a negative gallium scan) in these patients treated with 4 courses of BEACOPP. III. Determine whether thallium scans effectively measure response to therapy in these patients treated with this regimen. IV. Evaluate the expression of markers of apoptosis in tumor samples from these patients at diagnosis and at time of relapse, and correlate expression of these markers with response to therapy and overall outcome. V. Determine the utility of seven molecular genetic markers as surrogate markers of genotoxic damage caused by this regimen in these patients. VI. Estimate the incidence of therapy related late effects, including second malignant neoplasms, sterility, cardiac dysfunction, pulmonary restrictive disease, growth abnormalities, and thyroid disease in these patients.