Whether the state's vast investment in criminal justice has done any good or made communities in California any safer is studied by reviewing California crime and victimization data, imprisonment rates, and criminal justice expenditures over two decades. Results suggest there has been little impact of the immense investment in crime control. (SLD)

Some of the conceptual, methodological, and logistical impediments to sound evaluations of jail-based drug-treatment programs are described. The focus is on a program in a large urban jurisdiction that illustrates difficulty in tracking clients and coordinating agency responses. Some suggestions are offered to help future researchers. (SLD)

The trend toward expanding the use of prisons and jails for drug and alcohol offenders, sex offenders, and mentally ill offenders is examined, as is the corresponding conversion of community corrections programs to a surveillance and control orientation. The differential impact of this trend on women, minorities, and the poor is explored. (SLD)