Four questions appear repeatedly in discussions of prison and sentencing policy: who should be in prison, what should be the organizing principle of the prison experience, how should we decide when to let prisoners go, and where is the current reform movement likely to take us? A review of the history, criticism, and impact of selective incapacitation finds that there are no clear answers to the dilemmas posed by the 'Selective Incapacitation' proposal developed after 7 years of research by the Rand Corporation. Another paper points out some of the complexities underlying any attempt to implement a full-scale incapacitative model through increased imprisonment. A proposal to allocate prison cells to individual judges to help keep the prison population within limits is discussed. Other papers use computer simulation to test the effects of three prison classification models on the Nevada State Prison population and explore white and minority female inmates' perceptions of race relations within a Minnesota correctional facility. An examination of the legal and administrative structures, policies, and actual uses of sentence commutation in the United States finds wide variations among States. An analysis of the 'scientific reform' and 'new penology' introduced with the opening of the Elmira Reformatory (New York) in 1876 finds significant discrepancies between stated goals and achieved results. A final paper suggests that positive goals of rehabilitation are likely to survive the changes through which sentencing policy is currently passing. Each paper contains references; notes and tables are provided. For separate articles, see NCJ 92255-61.