The conference noted that trends in crime in the region sometimes bore no relationship to the use of imprisonment; in some countries where crime was comparatively well controlled, prisons were overcrowded, and in some countries where the number of cases known to the police had increased, the number of persons convicted and sentenced to prison had decreased. There was support for the development of a system of accreditation of penal institutions so as to reduce the increasing public and professional confusion about precise levels of human rights in practice. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the conference was the refusal of the participating administrators to support the Western rejection of rehabilitation as the principal objective of imprisonment. The concept of rehabilitation has been central in enabling the represented countries to move relatively recently from practices of harsh retribution in their penal systems, and they fear sliding back into such practices. There was general support for the use of imprisonment only as a last resort and the employment of expanded alternatives to institutionalization. The participants also accepted the need for adequate industry to be provided in all prisons, along with consistent discipline. Further, the conference advocated the universal application of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Prison statistics are provided for countries of Asia and the Pacific region as of April 1, 1980.