Chapter 1 addresses the emergence and development of intensive community programs for both young and adult offenders in the United States, England and Wales, and other jurisdictions. The political motivation for these programs is to reduce prison overcrowding while strengthening the community supervision of offenders who have traditionally been imprisoned. Appearing to the public to be tough on offenders even though they are not imprisoned is also a political concern. Chapter 2 reviews evaluation findings for intensive community programs in the United States, England and Wales, and elsewhere. It notes that the impact of these programs on reoffending has varied, with the most effective programs having a strong rehabilitative component. Their ability to reduce prison overcrowding has been somewhat compromised by custody requirements for program violations; and the cost-effectiveness of such programs has been reduced by expanding criteria for eligibility to include offenders who would not have been incarcerated in the past. Three chapters present a case study from Great Britain's national evaluation of the first 41 programs established under the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Program (ISSP). The final two chapters build upon the findings from the national evaluation of ISSP and earlier evaluations in proposing recommendations and discussing prospects for intensive community programs in the future. Recommendations pertain to setting realistic objectives, using a clear theoretical model, applying precise targeting criteria, addressing implementation and delivery problems, using a practical enforcement policy, and development of empirical data on program operations and effects. 300 references and a subject index