IN 1971, THE INSTITUTE BEGAN OFFERING COURSES IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS. STUDENTS FROM A VARIETY OF DISCIPLINES PARTICIPATED IN THE COURSES, WHICH WERE CONDUCTED AT A PRISON MENTAL HEALTH CLINIC. THE STUDENTS BECAME INVOLVED IN THE GROUP THERAPY OF SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHER INMATES. THE GROUP SESSIONS IN WHICH THEY PARTICIPATED COMBINED TREATMENT, TEACHING, AND THE GATHERING OF CLINCAL DATA. IT BECAME APPARENT THAT THE INSTITUTE NEEDED TO INTRODUCE A RESEARCH COMPONENT INTO ITS TEACHING AND TREATMENT ACTIVITIES--AN EFFORT TO TRANSLATE CLINICAL EXPERIENCE INTO THEORIES, TO BUILD HYPOTHESES IN CLINICAL SETTINGS. A TEAM CONSISTING OF ONE PSYCHIATRIST, ONE PSYCHOLOGIST, TWO SOCIOLOGISTS, AND TWO LAWYERS WAS FORMED. THE TEAM DESIGNED A RESEARCH PROGRAM THAT INCLUDES THERAPEUTIC WORK, CLINICAL EXPERIMENTS, DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESES AND THEORIES, AND TEACHING. THE TEAM APPROACHES ITS WORK FROM THE POINT OF VIEW THAT CRIMINOLOGY IS NOT A 'SUPERPROFESSION' ABOVE A NUMBER OF BASIC PROFESSIONS, BUT RATHER A BASIC PROFESSION IN AND OF ITSELF. LIKE MEDICINE, CRIMINOLOGY HAS SPECIALITIES, ONE OF WHICH IS CLINICAL CRIMINOLOGY--THE FOCUS OF THE TEL AVIV INSTITUTE'S WORK. SINCE ITS FORMATION, THE RESEARCH TEAM HAS DEVELOPED A MASTER PLAN FOR TREATING JUVENILE DELINQUENTS, WHICH IT PRESENTED TO THE ISRAELI PRISON SERVICE, AND HAS CARRIED OUT RESEARCH ON AGING PRISONERS. A BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CLINICAL CRIMINOLOGY IS INCLUDED. (LKM)