This volume gathers together a topical collection of articles on penal reform in the United States, Europe, Japan and other English-speaking countries. Unique and wide-ranging, the volume offers some of the broadest efforts to charaterise recent penal trends and analyse their causes and consequences. The articles, written by national and international authorities, originally appeared in the journal Overcrowded Times, and have been updated and presented with a new introduction. and international authorities on penal policy, practices and institutions. The articles originally appeared in the journalOvercrowded Times, available to a limited audience, and will be updated and presented with a new introduction. The volume, like Sentencing Reform in Overcrowded Times (OUP, 1997), will be unique in gathering together material on penal policy development and research, and the first to present an international, comparative focus. It offers some of the broadest efforts to characterise recent penal trends and analyse their causes and consequences. international on penal reform