These findings should increase incentive for probation personnel to refer problem clients to psychotherapy services focusing on personal and family developmental issues. They suggest that an individual who shows repeated episodes of criminal behavior is responding to unconscious resistance on the part of the family which reactivates the individual. This strong familial influence is usually neglected in program planning, policy, and practice. The utility of various therapeutic approaches is strongly linked with the specific array of problems and resources presented by each client. In family therapy, the aim is to help members learn to work through their problems more responsibly without scapegoating certain members. In individual therapy where the client has made a true separation from the family, strategic therapy is used where behavioral tasks are employed to 'direct' the client into a more functional condition. Some examples of the kind of problem situations in which the system-based approach is useful are unstable living situations, recurring problems with compliance, and family crises. Three case examples are given. Forty-six cases referred to individual and family therapy between October 1981 and May 1983 were evaluated. The findings included: (1) the retention of clients was remarkably high; (2) a majority of clients appear to have made some general gains in psychosocial functioning during treatment; and (3) somewhat fewer clients attained independent living status. 7 references.