FIVE THOUSAND OFFENDERS CONVICTED OF STANDARD OFFENSES IN JANUARY 1971 WERE INCLUDED IN THE SAMPLE. OFFENSES INCLUDED ALL INDICTABLE OFFENSES, ALL OTHER OFFENSES DEALT WITH AT THE CROWN COURT, AND A FEW NONINDICTABLE OFFENSES AND MOTORING OFFENSES DEALT WITH AT MAGISTRATES' COURTS. FOR ALL 5,000 OFFENDERS CONVICTED IN JANUARY 1971, PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS, SUBSEQUENT CONVICTIONS, AND OVERALL CONVICTIONS (I.E., CRIMINAL CAREERS) WERE STUDIED FOR THE 14-YEAR PERIOD, 1963-76. NAME, SEX, AND AGE FIGURED IN THE ANALYSIS AS DID THE DATE OF APPEARANCE IN COURT, TYPE OF SENTENCING COURT (CROWN OR MAGISTRATE), PRINCIPAL OFFENSES CLASSIFICATION, AND PRINCIPAL SENTENCE. RESULTS WERE THEN COMPARED WITH PREVIOUS STUDIES AND WITH JANUARY 1971 AND 1971 CRIMINAL STATISTICS TO SEE IF THE SAMPLE WAS REPRESENTATIVE. FINDINGS SUGGESTED THAT SEX, AGE, OFFENSE TYPE, AND NUMBER OF PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS HAVE SOME ASSOCIATION WITH THE TYPE OF SENTENCE GIVEN. IN GENERAL, THE OLDER THE OFFENDERS AND THE FEWER PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS, THE LOWER THE PROPORTION RECONVICTED. BOTH MALE AND FEMALE OFFENDERS TENDED TO BE CONVICTED OF SIMILAR TYPES OF OFFENSES IN CONSECUTIVE CONVICTIONS. NEVERTHELESS, FOR MALES THERE WAS AN APPRECIABLE CHANCE OF A CHANGE OF OFFENSE. A LIKELY FEATURE OF A CAREER OFFENDER CONVICTED ON A NUMBER OF OCCASIONS WAS A MIXTURE OF FINES AND CUSTODIAL SENTENCES. MORE FREQUENT OFFENDERS USUALLY WERE DEALT WITH AT THE CROWN COURT. THE MAIN RECONVICTION PATTERNS OBSERVED WERE LARGELY CONSISTENT WITH THOSE OF PREVIOUS STUDIES (E.G., HAMMOND) AND, IN THE SPECIFIC AREA OF RECONVICTION FOLLOWING CUSTODIAL SENTENCES, AGREED WITH PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED RATES. APPENDIXES CONTAIN THE OFFENDERS INDEX, A STANDARD LIST OF OFFENSES, SENTENCES AND ORDERS, AND CHANGES IN LEGISLATION FOR THE PERIOD 1963-76. FOOTNOTES AND TABLES SUPPLEMENT THE TEXT. (MHP)