The United States has an incarceration rate of 426 per 100,000 population, the world's highest known rate; South Africa has a rate of 333 per 100,000 population; and the Soviet Union a rate of 168 per 100,000 population. In the United States, black males are incarcerated at a rate four times that of black males in South Africa: 3,109 per 100,000 compared to 729 per 100,000. It costs $16 billion a year to incarcerate the more than one million inmates in American jails and prisons. No other nation for which incarceration rates are known approaches these levels. Rates of incarceration generally fall in the range of 35-120 per 100,000 in Western Europe and in the range of 21-140 for most Asian countries. It is necessary to determine the relative influence of crime rates and criminal justice policies on the high rate of incarceration in the United States and to respond to the problem with constructive programs and policies. 21 references and 3 tables