Within the field of psychiatry the attention for deviant social behaviour has always been secondary to the primacy of symptomatology and diagnosis. In the period just after the second world war a gradual change has taken place. The shift in attention to treatment in the community resulted in a growing need for measurement of deviant behaviour. In the present paper the history is briefly reviewed. Some theoretical problems and aspects of the use of assessments instruments are discussed. Finally, it is concluded that the classification of deviant social behaviour within the framework of existing diagnostic classifications has not been very successful. It is argued that a separate classification of the consequences of diseases (possibly based upon the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps) should be developed.