On balance, research shows that prison critics are wrong in their assessment that prisons have failed as a form of punishment. Sophisticated multivariate, quasi-experimental, and experimental research suggests that prisons are at least modestly successful in achieving the objectives of general deterrence, specific deterrence, and incapacitation. Furthermore, imprisonment is more workable, humane, and feasible than the few alternatives offered by critics, such as nonintervention, a return to corporal punishment, and the radical transformation of capitalism. In addition, punishment research grounded in the assumptions of rational choice theory seems to hold much future promise. Rational choice theorists argue that different clusters of costs, rewards, motives, and opportunities exist for different types of offenses and offenders. This suggests the importance of additional research that situationally analyzes different types of criminal activity to determine those types of offenses and offenders most susceptible to deterrence and the relative importance of celerity, certainty, and severity of punishments for different types of offenses and offenders. 60 references, discussion questions, and suggested student applications of the chapter material