EXPERIMENTS REPORTED IN THE ARTICLE WERE ADDRESSED TO THE PROBLEM OF SELECTING HIGH CONSENSUS OFFENSES AND MEASURING THE LEVEL OF THAT CONSENSUS. THE EXPERIMENTS WERE UNDERTAKEN TO SELECT THE OFFENSES WHOSE RELATIVE SERIOUSNESS WAS AGREED UPON BY ALL OR NEARLY ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WHOSE JUDGMENTS WERE ELICITED. JUDGMENTS WERE GIVEN FROM THREE GROUPS OF SUBJECTS -- UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, PROBATION OFFICERS, AND MAGISTRATES. THE AUTHORS CONCLUDED THAT THE USEFULNESS OF ANY SCALE OF OFFENSE SERIOUSNESS IS LIKELY TO HAVE AS ITS LIMITING FACTOR THE DEGREE OF DETAIL OF OFFENSE DESCRIPTION SUPPLIED IN CRIMINAL RECORDS. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)...KAP