Criteria that social workers should consider in selecting a measure for practice or research should include the sample used in the measure’s development, the adequacy and appropriateness of norms, culture and race, reliability, validity, and utility. Ethical issues include the practitioner’s competence in using measures, the potential for unintentional racism and classism in predicting and classifying violent or dangerous individuals, and the balancing of individual rights and the need to protect the public. Types of instruments include structured interviews, self-reports, behavior-rating scales, sociometric methods, direct observation, and archival record reviews. Future research should focus on the development of effective screening or multiple-gating methods and the determination of protective factors that can be mobilized to promote healthy development. Tables and 160 references