Apparatus, methods, systems, and instructions stored on computer-readable medium are presented for performing classification. A hardware engine may be configurable to implement a plurality of cascade classifiers comprising at least a first cascade classifier and a second cascade classifier, each including one or more stages. The first cascade classifier may be configured to perform a classification different from a classification performed by the second cascade classifier. The hardware engine may be capable of conditionally branching from the first cascade classifier to the second cascade classifier based on an outcome condition associated with evaluating of at least one stage of the first cascade classifier.