In this work two leading American criminologists argue that fundamental sentencing reforms are needed before the US corrections system can contend with an escalating crime rate. They recommend the adoption of intermediate punishments - community-based sanctions of increasing severity - which can fill the gap between costly and punitive incarceration currently reserved for a minority of convicted offenders and parole served by the majority of offenders. The authors first analyse the evolution of sentencing in America and consider why intermediate punishments successfully applied in other countries have failed in the US. The authors examine a range of intermediate punishments such as intensive probation, fines, community service orders, and drug treatment programmes, as well as the types of criminals they are applicable for, their enforceability and effectiveness, and the major objections to their use.