These variables were important predictors of the willingness of judges to use alternatives to incarceration for specific groups of felons constituting significant proportions of State prison populations. Consistent with the latter finding, descriptive analysis further revealed that judges who perceived less use of alternatives to incarceration for felony offenders resided primarily in States with more crowded prisons. The authors conclude that greater use of sentencing alternatives to incarceration may reduce problems related to prison crowding and high incarceration costs but that a judge's ability to use these alternatives more frequently may be hindered by State sentencing policies designed to reduce judicial sentencing discretion. 40 references and 5 tables