The classification system proposed here is based in part on results from two studies, the first of which examined responses of members of six sociologically defined groups to questions asking them about sanctions for offenders who violated certain laws and norms, and the second of which focused on the aims that respondents hoped to achieve by the sanctions they recommended for offenders in three cases of wrongdoing. The book describes characteristics of taxonomies, the conceptualization of wrongdoing, modes of reasoning about aims and sanctions, foundations of an aims taxonomy, types of aims, foundations of a sanctions taxonomy, types of sanctions, and applications of this type of classification system through analyses of psychosocial phenomena, instruction in ethics and morality, and personnel evaluation. 141 references