Alternative sanctions as substitutes for imprisonment have been developed for the first time in countries with a prison crisis, that is, the United States and the United Kingdom; however, most western countries have a problem of serious prison overcrowding. Consequently, the use of alternative sanctions has spread throughout the western world. The alternative sanctions have three primary objectives: to reduce prison overcrowding, to reduce costs, and to reduce recidivism. Many evaluation studies have examined whether and to what extent these objectives have been achieved by the new sanctions. The main conclusions of these evaluations are that substitution for a prison sentence occurs in only approximately half of all eligible cases and that there has as yet been no appreciable reduction in costs. As far as recidivism is concerned, the results show that offenders in alternative projects have similar recidivism rates as probationers and do better than offenders on parole. 54 references