THE TERMS IN THE THESARUS REFLECT THE VOCABULARY USED IN DOCUMENTS ENTERING THE NCJRS SYSTEM, THE FREQUENCY OF TERM USAGE IN THE LITERATURE, AND THE TERMS USED BY THE NCJRS USER. GEOGRAPHIC TERMS ARE LISTED IN SEPARATE SECTIONS. TERMS ARE CROSS-REFERENCED TO DENOTE BOTH HIERARCHICAL RELATIONSHIPS (TERMS OF VARYING DEGREES OF SPECIFICITY WITHIN THE SAME CLASS, SUCH AS 'CONTROLLED DRUGS,' 'OPIATES,' AND 'HEROIN') AND COLLATERAL RELATIONSHIPS (E.G., 'CONTROLLED DRUGS' AND 'DRUG ABUSE'). ALSO INCLUDED ARE SYNONYMS (E.G., 'DEFINITE SENTENCES' AND 'DETERMINATE SENTENCES,' WITH THE LATTER TO BE USED FOR INDEXING AND RETRIEVAL PURPOSES) AND SCOPE NOTES (EXPLANATIONS OF HOW TERMS ARE USED IN THE NCJRS SYSTEM). FOR EXAMPLE, THE SUBSTANTIVE TERM 'ARSON' CARRIES THE FOLLOWING: (1) A SCOPE NOTE DEFINING THE TERMS AS 'WILLFUL AND MALICIOUS BURNING OF PROPERTY, WITH OR WITHOUT INTENT TO DEFRAUD; (2)THE SYNONYM 'PROPERTY DAMAGE (ARSON)'; (3) THE HIERARCHICALLY RELATED, LESS SPECIFIC TERM 'PROPERTY CRIMES'; AND (4) SEVERAL COLLATERALLY RELATED TERMS, INCLUDING 'FIRE DETECTION' AND 'INCENDIARY DEVICES.' AN EXPLANATION OF HOW TO USE THE THESAURUS IS PROVIDED.