The discussion notes that all minorities and particularly black persons are overrepresented in both sentencing and incarceration, particularly with respect to drug law offenses. The selection of only certain drugs to target for increased penalties has disproportionately targeted minorities as offenders. In addition, the United States relies more heavily on incarceration than do all other developed countries. One reason for the increase in imprisonment is the increase over the past two decades of determinate sentencing systems established by the Federal and many State criminal justice systems. About half the States have moved to provide for community-based alternative sentencing programs to counter the impact of determinate and mandatory sentencing programs. Increasing disenchantment with rehabilitation as a central aim of sentencing has reduced the role of probation as an alternative to jail. However, the probationary sentence remains the basic root of alternative sentencing; almost all alternative sentences are specific conditions of probation and usually are monitored and enforced by probation officers. Judges are increasingly imposing alternative sentences for all kinds of crimes and categories of offenders. Case examples and reference notes