vercrowded, any change in probation policies that reduced the proportion of persons under correctional supervision placed on probation would further aggravate an already unsatisfactory situation. Of the more than 2.5 million persons on probation in 1989, 47 percent were felony offenders, 31 percent were misdemeanor offenders, 21 percent were driving while intoxicated offenders, and two percent were convicted of other infractions of the law.5 The probation population is increasing at the rate of 5.6 percent per year.6 Under the existing probation policies, 1,600 new prison beds are required annually to keep up with the increasing numbers of people being incarcerated. Again, any change in existing probation policies that would increase further the number of people incarcerated would further aggravate the problem of prison overcrowding.
Of the more than 2.5 million persons on probation in the United States in 1989, less than 50 thousand were under either intensive supervision or electronic monitoring, and all of the
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