Contained are listings of descriptors 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 determined by the vocabulary used in the documents input into the system, the frequency of term usage in the literature, and the language of the community. Two types of terms are listed: descriptors and synonyms or near synonyms. Descriptors are listed in alphabetical order with related terms (RT), broader terms (BT), and narrower terms (NT) listed under the appropriate descriptor. Scope notes (SN) and used for (UF) terms may also be utilized to provide definitions, and to place positive or negative limitations on usage. The thesaurus is divided into three main sections: substantive, organizational, and geographic descriptors. (Author/MBR)