This speech defines the planning process involved in the development of a community-based corrections project. The correctional planners attempt to strike a realistic balance between the need for incarceration of offenders and the need for rehabilitation and treatment. The multiple influences available through community corrections are seen as offering more possibilities for innovation and more effective retraining of offenders. The recommendations of the program planners are (1) the incarceration of as few offenders as possible; (2) the development of small, decentralized specialized treatment centers; (3) the use of individualized sentencing procedures based on social-psychological study of each offender; and (4) the development and use of diversionary methods to steer first-time offenders away from the criminal justice system. The process of developing these recommendations into program guidelines is briefly traced, and the obstacles to program implementation are described. (SJL)