CONTINUOUS INFORMATION EXCHANGE AT ALL LEVELS OF CONTROL, UNSKEWED DATA COLLECTION, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TYPOLOGY OF HOSTAGE SITUATIONS BASED ON OPERATIONAL NEEDS ARE THE PREREQUISITES DETERMINED BY THE SEMINAR FOR EFFCTIVE RESEARCH ON PREVENTION AND CONTROL PROGRAMS. AS A PRELUDE TO ANY WORK TYPOLOGY, THE FOLLOWING DISTINCTIONS WERE FOUND TO BE USEFUL: SKYJACKING AS COMPARED TO OTHER HOSTAGE SITUATIONS; KIDNAPING VERSUS BARRICADED SITUATIONS; POLITICAL VERSUS CRIMINAL CONTEXT; PRISON CONTEXT AS COMPARED TO OTHER HOSTAGE SITUATIONS; AND REGIONAL DIFFERENCES. PRIORITIES, POLICIES, PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT NEEDS, AND NEGOTIABLE ITEMS ARE MATTERS IDENTIFIED FOR ADVANCE PLANNING. WELL-TESTED PROCEDURES CONSIDERED STANDARD REQUIREMENTS IN ANY EFFECTIVE CONTROL PROGRAM ARE: CLARITY OF COMMAND; SPECIAL TRAINING FOR PERSONNEL; NEGOTIATORS SELECTED AND TRAINED TO BE OTHER THAN ULTIMATE DECISIONMAKERS; DECISIONMAKING PREPARED TO BE QUICK, BUT FLEXIBLE; THE KEEPING OF WRITTEN LOGS DURING AN INCIDENT; REGULAR MEDIA BRIEFING; AND DEBRIEFING AFTER AN INCIDENT. IT IS INDICATED THAT THE ROLE OF THE HOSTAGES IS UNDERESTIMATED AND LITTLE RESEARCH HAS BEEN DONE ON THE HOSTAGE-CAPTOR RELATIONSHIP; AND THE RELEVANCE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF DETERRENCE IN HOSTAGE SITUATIONS IS ALSO CONSIDERED POORLY UNDERSTOOD. BASED ON AN ANALYSIS OF THE SEMINAR PROCEEDINGS, THE FOLLOWING TOPICS EMERGED SUBJECTS FOR RESEARCH: 1) THE EFFECT OF POLICY ON INCIDENT MANAGEMENT; 2) DECISIONMAKING DURING CRISIS SITUATIONS; 3) DETERRENT MODELS OF INCIDENT MANAGEMENT; 4) THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN PREVENTION AND CONTROL PROGRAMS; 5) A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF OPERATIONAL FLOW CHARTS ADAPTED FOR DIFFERENT HOSTAGE SITUATIONS; AND 6) THE HOSTAGE-CAPTOR RELATIONSHIP AND ITS RELEVANCE TO INCIDENT MANAGEMENT. (RCB)