THE PAPERS AND CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE DISCUSSIONS ALSO EXPLORED THE LATEST STATE OF THIS PARTICULAR FIELD OF RESEARCH. THE POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF A CRIMINOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENSES, OF WEIGHING THE SERIOUSNESS OF CRIME, OF MEASURING DAMAGES, AND THE DIFFICULTIES OF USING SUCH SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS SUCCESSFULLY IN PRACTICE AND WITHIN THE LIMIT OF REASONABLE COSTS ARE DISCUSSED. SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: RESEARCH IN CRIMINALISTICS AND CRIMINOLOGY AT THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF CRIMINAL AFFAIRS, CRIME ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH ON CRIME STATISTICS AT THE FEDERAL BUREAU, BASIC PROBLEMS OF OFFENSE CLASSIFICATION AND INDEXING, CRIMINOLOGICAL OFFENSE CLASSIFICATION IN AUSTRIA, OFFENSE EVALUATION BASED ON SERIOUSNESS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRIME INDEXES RATED ACCORDING TO OFFENSE SERIOUSNESS, CRIME STATISTICS BASED ON DAMAGE, APPLICATIONS OF CRIME SERIOUSNESS INFORMATION IN POLICE DEPARTMENTS AND CRIME ANALYSIS AS A PREREQUISITE FOR CRIME PREVENTION. CONCLUSIONS OF THE SYMPOSIUM INDICATED THAT IN SPITE OF ALL THEIR DEFICIENCIES, CRIMINAL STATISTICS ARE, IN PRINCIPLE, USEFUL AND INDISPENSABLE AS INFORMATORY INSTRUMENTS, BUT THAT THEIR IMPROVEMENT THROUGH RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTS MUST BE CONTINUED. (IN GERMAN AND ENGLISH).