Interviewing a sample of 154 recently committed inmates in three States, Austin and Irwin's research to evaluate the seriousness of newly committed prisoners' crimes considers only currently entering cohorts of newly sentenced inmates and does not differentiate between those who are sent to prison whose profile will differ significantly from those who tend to be imprisoned longer. The researchers judge whether a crime is too petty to deserve imprisonment on the basis of a 14-year-old survey which did not identify what Americans consider the proper punishment to be for either petty or serious crimes. Aware of a second survey's finding that 71 percent of respondents regard prison to be a proper punishment for crimes such as rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft, property damage, drunk driving, and a drug offense, they inaccurately criticize the survey's crime scenarios as "unrealistic." Finally, Austin and Irwin rely too heavily on inmate honesty in the self-reports of their crimes. 5 notes