STUDY DATA WERE DERIVED FOR EXISTING SOURCES INCLUDING THE IOWA DIVISION OF ADULT CORRECTIONS AND THE BUREAU OF CORRECTIONAL EVALUATION WITH THE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES. INVOLVING A PRIMARY SAMPLE OF 1,664 CASES AND A SECONDARY SAMPLE OF 53 CASES, THE DATA WERE ANALYZED BY A CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH DESIGN WHICH USED SIMPLE AND MULTIVARIATE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS. MAJOR FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY CENTERED ON THREE TOPICS: SENTENCE TYPE, SENTENCE LENGTH, AND CLASSIFICATION OF RESIDENTIAL OFFENDERS. DATA INDICATE THAT (1) A DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBER OF OLDER AND NONWHITE OFFENDERS WERE SENTENCED TO PRISON DESPITE THE ABSENCE OF RELEVANT LEGAL CRITERIA; (2) WITHIN RURAL COURTS, A DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBER OF NONWHITE OFFENDERS AND OFFENDERS WITH THREE OR MORE LEGAL DEPENDENTS WERE SENTENCED TO PRISON WITHOUT RELEVANT LEGAL CRITERIA; AND (3) WITHIN URBAN COURTS, LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS WERE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EXTRALEGAL ONES IN ACCOUNTING FOR TYPE OF SENTENCE RECEIVED, WHILE WITHIN RURAL COURTS AND, TO AN EXTENT SEMIRURAL COURTS, THE OPPOSITE WAS TRUE. NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND FOR SENTENCE LENGTH EXCEPT FOR URBAN COURTS, WHERE LEGAL VARIABLES HAVE GREATER EXPLANATORY POWER THAN EXTRALEGAL VARIABLES. THE OFFENDERS SENTENCED TO RESIDENTIAL CORRECTIONS IN POLK COUNTY WERE RELATIVELY SIMILAR TO PROBATION OFFENDERS IN THEIR OVERALL CHARACTERISTICS BUT DISSIMILAR TO INSTITUTIONAL OFFENDERS, BOTH WITHIN POLK COUNTY AND THE STATE AS A WHOLE. STUDY FINDINGS CONTAIN A NUMBER OF THEORETICAL AND POLICY-RELATED IMPLICATIONS REGARDING CRIMINAL SENTENCING AND THE RURAL-URBAN DIMENSION. ALSO RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH EFFORTS IN THE AREA OF CRIMINAL SENTENCING AND THE RURAL-URBAN FACTOR ARE SUGGESTED. TABULAR DATA AND A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE PROVIDED.