This thesaurus contains listings of descriptors or terms used to index the literature in the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) documentation data base and to store and retrieve information about the literature for users of the service. Term selection is based largely on the vocabulary of the authors of the documents entering the NCJRS system, the frequency of the term usage in the literature, and the language of the user community. Two types of terms are listed: descriptors and synonyms or near synonyms. Cross referencing of the descriptors are structured with use, use for, narrow term, broad term, and related term notations. Some scope notes are utilized to provide true definitions, to place positive or negative limitations on usage, or to combine definitions and positive limitations. The thesaurus is divided into three sections: substantive, organization, and geographic descriptors. (Author/JPF)