To create an alternative to detention pending trial, "judicial control" was introduced in France in 1970. In lieu of imprisonment, the judge can impose special conditions on the accused: periodic appearances at a police station, relinquishing the passport, posting bail, undergoing treatment, etc. Recent reforms of the French penal code have also substantially increased the judges' option to determine the length of a prison term. Judges can even defer a term while the offender makes restitution or attempts to correct the problem. The most established and frequently use alternative sanction is a suspended sentence with or without probation which can be used in a wide variety of cases. Less popular are such alternatives as the ban to exercise a certain profession, suspension of the driver's license, and confiscation of weapon or vehicle (all created in 1975), mainly because they are so difficult to enforce. Of the most recent alternative sanctions (1983), community work, has been used frequently and with great success. The article concludes that the French criminal justice system possesses a rich and diversified array of traditional and experimental alternatives to incarceration.