THE VARIETY OF CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS FOCUSING ON ETIOLOGY, PRECIPITATING FACTORS, SOCIAL ORGANIZATION, FAMILY ORGANIZAION, AND INTRA-PSYCHIC ORGANIZATION ARE BELIEVED TO BE TOO NARROW WHEN EMPLOYED ALONE FOR DEVELOPING TREATMENT PROGRAMS FOR A RANDOM GROUP OF DELINQUENTS. IT IS INDICATED THAT PRESENTLY THERE IS NO SYSTEMATIC APPROACH WHICH ATTEMPTS TO LINK THE SOCIOLOGICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND SITUATIONAL VARIABLES WHICH ARE ALL RELEVANT TO A COMPLETELY SATISFACTORY TAXONOMY. ALTHOUGH PRESENT THEORIES OF DELINQUENT TYPES ARE CONSIDERED INADEQUATE, TREATMENT THEORIES ARE SAID TO BE EVEN MORE PRIMITIVE. IT IS BELIEVED THAT TREATMENT TYPOLOGIES FAIL TO CONSIDER OR APPRECIATE THE MULTIPLICITY OF VARIABLES THAT DETERMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A GIVEN TREATMENT MILIEU FOR A PARTICULAR OFFENDER. SOME EXAMPLES OF SPECIFIC RESEARCH INTO THE INTERACTION BETWEEN TREATMENT CONTENT AND MILIEU AND CERTAIN TYPES OF DELINQUENTS ARE DESCRIBED. THE NEED FOR CLASSIFICATIONS OF TREATMENT IS INDICATED, AND EXAMPLES OF TREATMENT PLANS FOCUS ON KINDS OF REHABILITATIVE SETTINGS, CHARACTERISTICS OF TREATORS, AND THE CONTENT OF PROGRAMS. THE CURRENT TREND IS BELIEVED TO BE TOWARD SYSTEMATIC RESEARCH PROGRAMS TO DISCOVER DIFFERENTIAL SUCCESS RESULTS BASED ON INTERACTIONS BETWEEN KINDS OF DELINQUENTS AND TYPES OF TREATMENT PROGRAMS. EXAMPLES OF SUCH RESEARCH ARE DESCRIBED. THIS TREND IS DEEMED APPROPRIATE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEMATIC SCIENCE OF CORRECTIONS. SEE NCJ 32007 (RCB)