The sentencing reforms of the past twenty-five years have had several goals, including" truth in sentencing," control of prison populations, and reduction of unwarranted disparity. The first goal was easily achieved when parole was abolished and the sentence imposed became the sentence served. Control of prison populations proved more difficult, and careful evaluation is needed to determine whether sentencing reform helped to check, or may have accelerated, the steady rise in prison in-* Paul J. Hofer, Senior Research Associate, US Sentencing Commission; Kevin Blackwell, Research Associate, US Sentencing Commission; and Barry Ruback, Professor of Crime, Law, & Justice and Sociology, Pennsylvania State University. The views in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect an opinion or policy of the US Sentencing Commission. We would like to thank Patricia Valen-tino for extensive copy editing and Yosefi Seltzer for his conscientious help in calling court clerks around the country and coding survey results. In addition, we acknowledge the assistance of staff of the Office of Policy Analysis of the US Sentencing Commission and the Research Division of the Federal Judicial Center for providing access to the results of the FJC survey. Responsibility for the use made of these results or for errors of analysis rests solely with the authors.