ABSTRACT
IMPRISONMENT RATES IN AUSTRALIA, ENGLAND and the United States are now at their highest levels in decades. Although crime rates in the United States have fallen over the last decade, the rate of imprisonment in that country continues to accelerate, with no signs of its diminution (Tonry, 1999a). In Australia, although the rate of some crimes is increasing, particularly some crimes of violence and burglary, the increase in the rate of imprisonment far exceeds increases in crime rates. Popular opinion tends to be supportive of this trend, if not to have created it. Politicians, adept at sensing and amplifying public moods, have encouraged the view that a rising punitive sentiment is an appropriate and understandable public response to crime. While the policy of fighting crime by increasing imprisonment rates has been described as foolish, misguided, irrational or uninformed, it has, nonetheless, captured the public imagination.
