Major factors that have prompted recent changes in alternative sentencing programs are identified, and evidence sentencing programs are identified, and evidence is provided to indicate that the expansion of nonprison penalties historically has increased social control without reducing imprisonment. Studies of alternative sentencing programs are reported, and lessons learned from the reform efforts of the late 1960's and 1970's are summarized. Further, the reform efforts of the 1980's are shown to reflect new attention to the justification, definition, and implementation of alternatives to incarceration. Most notably, reducing prison populations has become a much more explicit goal upon which most strategic considerations center. The increasing use of approaches designed to influence disposition decisions and to reduce the length of stay in institutions is reported, and program features of the new generation of alternatives are examined. Additionally, the primary goal of each program -- to avoid or minimize incarceration by establishing conditions for accountability, supervision, personal responsibility, and remorse -- is noted. Some of the dangers associated with the recent reforms are identified, including the risks of creating a new generation of objectionable programs, of perpetuating the values that support imprisonment, and of contributing to an overall escalation of social control. The paper concludes that the use of these strategies may have little impact on incarceration over the long term; it may even result in expansion of the overall level of criminal justice intervention. Eighty-five references are provided.