Community corrections officials are faced with demands to reduce prison overcrowding, reduce probation/parole casework loads, and design more effective offender treatment programs. One way they can begin to deal with these problems is to identify higher risk offenders who require the most exacting supervision including intensive treatment services. In so doing, the public's interest will be safeguarded, the offender will benefit, and precious fiscal resources will not be squandered on lower risk offenders who pose relatively little threat to the community. There is no disagreement in the criminological area that age, gender, criminal history, early family factors, and criminal associates are robust predictors of recidivism. Also, a more complete picture is emerging concerning the appropriate assessment of special offender groups (e.g., mentally disordered and sex offenders). The article describes the actuarial technique for assessing offender characteristics predictive of recidivism. Notes, references