THE FOUR AREAS DISCUSSED ARE A DEFINITION OF THE OFFENDER-BASED TRANSACTIONAL STATISTICS (OBTS) CONCEPT; DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OBTS AND TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE STATISTICS, UNIQUE ADVANTAGES OF THE OBTS CONCEPT, AND POTENTIAL PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH IMPLEMENTING AN OBTS SYSTEM. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT OBTS, A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE STATISTICS EMPHASIZING THE OFFENDER'S MOVEMENT THROUGH THE SYSTEM (AS OPPOSED TO AN AGENCY SPECIFIC APPROACH), REPRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT DEPARTURE FROM TRADITIONAL APPROACHES IN ITS UNIT OF COUNT, FOCUS, AND TIME BASE. ALSO POINTED OUT IS THE FACT THAT, IN SPITE OF VARIOUS DIFFICULTIES INVOLVED IN ITS HIGHLY COMPLEX AND TIME CONSUMING IMPLEMENTATION, THE OBTS CONCEPT ALLOWS TRUE MONITORING AND STATISTICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE....ELW