Appropriate treatment is highly structured, behavioral, or cognitive-behavioral and is responsive to risk/need principles. Treatment program effectiveness is further improved by sustained treatment integrity, qualified and dedicated staff, and a hospitable setting. The identification and management of adult violent offenders have received considerable recent attention. Violent offenders are distinguished by the injuries they cause, motivation for violence, types of events and emotions causing them to offend, the culpability they accept, characteristics of risk and need levels, and motivation for treatment. Violent offenders also differ as to the degree of planning involved in violent crimes, history of violent and nonviolent crimes, and mental status. The treatment of violent offenders has been plagued by methodological limitations, such as self-reported offender treatment needs and gains, lack of control groups, absence of follow-up data, lack of clearly specified admission or selection criteria, and failure to link treatment to a conceptual violence model. Further, the treatment of violent offenders has traditionally focused on anger control. This approach conceptualizes violence as resulting from an offender's inability to identify and manage anger. Developmental research on aggressive children has identified information processing problems as an important treatment target. Implications of research findings for the development and delivery of programming for violent offenders are discussed. 16 notes, 1 table, and 2 figures