Forty-seven provincial judges of Ontario completed a seven-page structured questionnaire and participated in interviews. The judges tended to view alternatives to prison as lenient sentences, such that when they seek a punitive objective in sentencing, imprisonment rather than a community sentence is selected. Recidivism and public safety concerns were priority factors in selecting imprisonment for an offender. These were determined by the nature of the current offense and the past record of offenses. In the selection of alternative programs, priority tends to be given to offender characteristics such as attitude, current socioeconomic circumstances, and age. If judges are to make greater use of alternative programs, then more offenders customarily sentenced to prison must be sentenced to alternative programs. This is not likely to occur unless judges receive more information on the goals and effects of alternative programs for various types of offenders. Such information should include recidivism rates of the offenders in different alternative programs. A logical forum for presenting research findings, describing new programs, etc., would be the sentencing seminars held annually for the Ontario provincial court judges. Further, there is need for better communication between the judiciary and corrections on a daily basis. The establishment of a permanent liaison office is recommended. Tabular data and 13 references are provided.