Home confinement has been praised as more humane, less corrupting, and cheaper than imprisonment. It has also been criticized for turning the home into a prison, setting a dangerous precedent and violating the sanctity of the home as a last refuge from governmental intrusion. Home confinement is part of a fourth phase in the development of European-North American punitive policy and represents a reaction against the third phase's increase in the use of incarceration. House arrest programs currently exist for both juvenile and adult offenders. Analysis of these programs shows that home confinement offers a flexible sanction that can be structured for different times of day, different periods during the week, and different lengths. A variety of arrangements will be legally acceptable as long as they can be justified as protecting the community and contributing to the offender's rehabilitation in some reasonable way. Home confinement is also easy for the public to understand, can be combined with other sanctions, and can be used at almost any stage in the criminal justice process. However, the growing use of home confinement raises issues regarding the nature and extent of social control and the possibility of unintended consequences, particularly because new correctional policies are rarely carried out as originally envisioned. Figures, tables, 158 references, list of cases, and appended sample supervision contracts, reporting forms, and other administrative materials.