THE FIVE CITIES SELECTED WERE SAN MATEO, CALIF., SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, DULUTH, MINN., BATON ROUGE, LA., AND ORLANDO, FLA. EACH CITY RECEIVED A GRANT OF $250,000 FOR A 12-MONTH PERIOD TO APPLY AND EVALUATE THE FOLLOWING FOUR ALTERNATIVES TO FORMAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROCESSING OFFERED BY THE DES MOINES PROGRAM: RELEASE ON RECOGNIZANCE, PRETRIAL SUPERVISED RELEASE, PROBATION, AND RESIDENCE IN A CENTER OFFERING WORK AND EDUCATIONAL RELEASE. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH TEAM WAS SELECTED TO EVALUATE THE REPLICATIONS OF THE DES MOINES PROGRAM. THE RESEARCH DESIGN HAS FOUR INTERRELATED COMPONENTS: OFFENDER-BASED TRACKING ANALYSIS, PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS ASSESSMENT, A COMMUNITY SURVEY, AND ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS. TWO GENERAL ORGANIZATIONAL MODELS OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM THAT HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED IN ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES ARE THE RATIONAL GOAL MODEL AND THE FUNCTIONAL SYSTEMS MODEL. THE RATIONAL GOAL MODEL VIEWS FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS AS INSTRUMENTS ORIENTED TOWARD THE REALIZATION OF EXPRESSED GOALS. THE FUNCTIONAL SYSTEMS MODEL ASSUMES THAT FORMALLY EXPRESSED GOALS ARE BUT ONE OF SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONAL CONCERNS. IN THE ANALYSIS OF THE DES MOINES REPLICATIONS, THE ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT WILL ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH OFFENDER CLASSIFICATION AND PROCESSING ARE DICTATED BY FORMAL AND INFORMAL POLICIES. IT IS ASSUMED THAT OFFENDER CLASSIFICATION AND PROCESSING REFLECT PATTERNED POLICIES OF DECISIONMAKERS WITHIN CRIMINAL COURTS AND RELATED JUSTICE AGENCIES. CENTRAL VARIABLES IN ORGANIZATIONAL OPERATIONS ARE ASSUMED TO INCLUDE PERCEPTIONS OF PERSONNEL. PLANNED DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES TO ACCOMPLISH THE ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS ARE DESCRIBED, AND EXPECTED RESULTS OF THE DES MOINES REPLICATIONS ARE DISCUSSED. REFERENCES AND DATA COLLECTION FORMS ARE INCLUDED. (DEP)