The U.S. inmate population has experienced three large increases: first from 1850 to 1870, then from 1920 to 1940, and from 1970 until recently. In the first two periods, the increase stopped after 20 years, but in the most recent period, the growth continues. Austin and McVey (1989) expect a 65-percent increase in the inmate population up to 1994. There is a wide variation in the imprisonment rate from State to State, however, ranging from 66 inmates per 100,000 resident population in North Dakota to 1,168 per 100,000 in the District of Columbia (1991). Second place drops to 477 inmates per 100,000 population in Nevada. Although the prison population has doubled during the last 10 years, victimization rates continue a downward trend that began a decade ago, but the severity of the sanctions for various crimes has increased. National statistics show that the majority (65 percent) of offenders are sentenced to prison for property, drug, and public disorder crimes. A significant number (15 percent) of all admissions have not been convicted of any crime, but are returned to prison for violating their parole conditions. The explosion in the number of inmates in U.S. prisons cannot be explained as caused by a crime increase. There must be other explanations.