In Houston, Texas, court-appointed attorneys represent indigent criminal defendants. Are defendants with court-appointed attorneys more likely to receive a punitive disposition (conviction versus nonconviction; a prison sentence rather than probation or a fine) than defendants represented by private, retained counsel? Five hundred and eighty-six defendants were selected at the time of charge and followed for one year or until their cases were disposed. When charge and previous convictions were controlled, court-appointed attorneys and private counsel appeared to be equally successful in obtaining nonconvictions for their clients. Although private attorneys obtained nonprison dispositions more often than court-appointed attorneys did, the differences disappeared when pretrial status was controlled. The data suggest several trends in the Houston courts. Some low-income defendants appeared to be boycotting court-appointed counsel. Pretrial detention was the most significant factor in case disposition. Some defendants detained in jail before trial were there apparently because of ineffective counsel. While the type of attorney did not seem to be signifi cant, advocacy-oriented counsel working to ensure bonding of appropriate defendants is recommended as a means of improving justice in Houston.

Proponents of mandatory jail laws contend that alternative sanctions such as probation and fines have failed to modify behavior of those convicted of drunk driving (DWI). In order to test this proposition, we evaluated the effects of probation, fines, and jail sentences on DWI recidivism of a randomly selected DWI population at risk for 36 months. Utilizing survival time statistical analysis, the findings showed no significant differences in outcome among sanctions. As predicted, persons with a DWI history recidivated significantly sooner than first offenders. We conclude by advocating a policy of alternative sanctions to incarceration for drunk drivers.

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Since misdemeanor offenders may significantly contribute to local jail overcrowding, it is incumbent upon criminal justice policy makers to explore alternatives to incarceration for society's less serious offenders. In order to address the feasibility of adopting a policy of alternative sanctions for general misdemeanor offenders, the investigators conducted a three year longitudinal study of minor offenders sentenced to fine, probation, and jail in a large southwest urban jurisdiction (Houston, Texas). The most salient finding was the emergence of probation as a superior sanction. Utilizing traditional chi-square analysis, probation exhibited the lowest recidivism rate. Employing recently developed survival time analysis, probationers had a significantly higher probability of not recidivating than jailed offenders during the study period. The authors conclude by discussing the policy implications of these findings. ccording to Bureau of Justice statistics (1986), more than one-A fifth of local jails in jurisdictions with large inmate populations were under federal court order to reduce the number of inmates they house. Of the nation's jails surveyed, overall occupancy was 90% of the rated capacity. While little information is available on the number of misdemeanor offenders serving sentences in local jails, one large local jail (Harris County, Texas) reported that 25% of its more than 4,600 inmates were misdemeanor offenders (Harris County Sheriff Depart-

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