It discusses the nature and significance of social costs, defined in relation to the use of criminal justice records, and their relationship to problems of collective action and public policy formation. For background information, it reviews the history of the development of criminal justice information systems since 1965, from the viewpoint of developers of such systems interested in more effective law enforcement and administration of criminal justice through the widespread use and application of the new technology. The study also examines the patterns of governmental response to the reduction of social costs associated with criminal justice information usage, beginning with the precomputer period and proceeding to the early and contemporary periods of information system development. Final sections of the study focus on the representation of the interest in reducing social costs of criminal justice records and review the approaches to regulation of information systems in terms of the anticipated costs and benefits. The study finds that the prevailing public policymaking process does not assure that the social costs of criminal justice records can be significantly reduced and weighed against the interest of criminal justice agencies in using computer information systems. There are important constraints on prospects for collective action by those affected by social costs, and there are significant limitations on the successful representation of the interest in reducing the social costs of criminal justice records by interest groups and others. The study suggests that criminal justice agencies have an important role in the decisionmaking process to reduce such costs, and it emphasizes that technology and politics are mutually interacting variables. Footnotes, a few tables and illustrations, and over 500 references are included.