The commission requested input from a representative cross-section of criminal justice practitioners and public interest groups on existing practices of imposing punishment. The commission also requested statistical data, profiles of criminal justice agency operations, and national research concerning criminal sanction reforms implemented in other jurisdictions. The commission established six criteria that it felt would be necessary to guide efforts to improve Georgia's criminal sanctions system: (1) return to credibility in sentencing with emphasis on ending total dependency on parole guidelines for controlling the prison population; (2) decrease in sentencing disparity that focuses on the consistent use of all supervision types and the need for punishment proportionate to the offense; (3) provision of adequate prison bed space for drug traffickers and violent repeat offenders for specific periods of time; (4) increased availability of punishment alternatives for nonviolent offenders; (5) need to include substance abuse treatment with punishment; and (6) need to insure the manageability of the criminal sanctions system at every level. Potential strategies to address these criteria, including an offender accountability model, are detailed. Appendixes contain supplemental information on prison population projections, parole guidelines, State correctional institutions, probation alternatives, inmate and sentencing statistics, substance abuse and treatment estimates, and the offender accountability model. Tables and figures