After a decade of prison building and developing fixed sentencing structures that resulted in more punitive sanctions, crime has not been substantially reduced. New findings on what has worked and not worked in past corrections social-service systems is setting the stage for the criminal justice system to turn again to social workers and their unique approaches for keeping offenders in some sort of positive relationship to the community and assisting them in adopting a law-abiding life. Social work must redefine its scope in order to be effective in the current criminal justice environment. Part of this redefinition involves weighing the needs of the justice system against those of the individual offender. In meeting this challenge, social workers should participate in legislative action that molds social policy designed to create a balance between the justice system and the offender. The revised agenda should promote three interventions: criminal justice conditions, offender risk, and correctional treatment. Criminal justice conditions pertain to fines, restitution, community service, and mandatory rehabilitation programs. Offender risk pertains to predictions about the amount of potential harm that an offender may cause, and correctional treatment involves addressing specific offender needs and conditions that underlie his/her criminal behaviors. College social work curriculums should focus on the knowledge and skills required for social workers to contribute to these interventions. The curriculum should provide a knowledge base for direct practice with client and the planning, administration, and management of social services in the justice system. Internships should provide practice experience for this knowledge base. There should be experience in interdisciplinary study and opportunities for working with a range of professionals in the justice system. 32 references