A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

. The policy to art circles has been more strict than before , and more strict t

han any other fields . ''

 WASHINGTON The number of inmates in state and federal prisons climbed to nearly

 a million last year , an almost threefold increase since 1980 , according to a 

Justice Department report issued Wednesday Last year 's growth alone represented

 an average weekly gain of about 1,250 prisoners . Congress is poised to stiffen

 penalties for dozens of crimes , thereby exacerbating the problem . The Bureau 

of Justice Statistics said that nearly half the increase in prisoners since 1980

 was linked to drug offenders entering prison . In 1992 , the last year for whic

h data on drug offenders were available , prison commitments for drug offenses r

eached 30 percent of all new commitments , the department said . The `` War on D

rugs '' produced longer federal and state sentences , mandatory minimum terms an

d tighter parole policies for drug and violent crimes . In addition to drug offe

nders , the numbers of people jailed for sexual assault , robbery , aggravated a

ssault and burglary have increased , the report said . Those crimes accounted fo

r nearly 50,000 people entering prison in 1992 , according to the Justice Depart

ment . Inmate growth also was linked to increases in the number of parole and pr

obation violators returned to prison . In 1980 , only 17 percent of state prison

ers were parole or probation violators , but by 1992 this had risen to 30 percen

t.Overall , the nation 's prisons held 948,881 inmates at the end of last year ,

 compared with 329,821 men and women in 1980 . The average annual increase for t

he 14-year period was 8.5 percent . At the end of last year , state prisons were

 estimated to be operating at between 18 and 29 percent above capacity , while t

he federal system was estimated to be 36 percent over capacity . The rapid rise 

in incarcerations underscored the fiscal impact of rising crime rates , primaril

y on state governments . Corrections officials estimate that it costs at least $

 15,000 a year to house each prisoner , and say the cost of building prisons has

 been rising annually . `` In recent years , the increase in correctional spendi

ng for states has been twice that for general fund increases and even larger tha

n in education spending , '' said Jon Felde , who studies judiciary issues for t

he National Conference of State Legislatures . `` We have to find new ways to co

pe with the rate of criminality , '' he added . Felde predicted that state gover

nments would intensify their searches for sentencing alternatives to incarcerati

on . Joseph R. Biden Jr. , chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee , said tha

t the Justice Department report makes all the more imperative the need for Congr

ess to pass the crime bill , which authorizes billions of dollars for prison con

struction besides lengthening sentences for a number of crimes . `` But it is no

t enough simply to keep building prisons because the statistics released demonst

rate prison population keeps growing to fill new spaces , '' he said . Biden cal

led for a `` new approach '' to fighting crime , balancing punishment with innov

ative prevention programs and expanding cost-effective experiments such as boot 

camps and special drug courts . The report said that California had the most inm

ates in state facilities in 1992 ( 119,951 ) , followed by Texas ( 71,103 ) and 

New York ( 64,569 ) . Texas had an additional 29,546 inmates in local jails awai

ting transfer to state prisons . The report stressed and local law enforcement o

fficials confirmed that inmate overcrowding and rising costs of incarceration ha

ve forced a number of states to begin housing prisoners in local jails . At the 

end of last year , the report said , 22 states reported a total of 50,966 such p

risoners being held in local jails or other facilities . Texas reported that alm

ost 60 percent of its prisoners were being held in local jails even though they 

had been sentenced to state prisons , and four other states Louisiana , Virginia

 , New Jersey and West Virginia held more than 10 percent of their prison popula

tions locally , the report said . Bud Meeks , executive-director of the National

 Sheriff 's Association , said , `` Incarcerating people is a very expensive pro

position for us . We feel the increase because our local jails are turning into 

long-term facilities , which they really are not equipped to be . '' He said one

 local jail in Fort Wayne , Ind. , was housing 540 inmates , even though it was 

built for 220 . `` That 's happening all over. . . . It 's a disaster waiting to

 happen , '' Meeks said .

 SAN SALVADOR Armando Calderon Sol , El Salvador 's first postwar president , to

ok office Wednesday with a pledge to end political polarization and comply fully

 with the battered peace accords that ended 10 years of fratricidal conflict her

e . While in many ways El Salvador has left behind the era when it was synonymou

s with political violence , deep concern has persisted among opposition leaders 

that key elements of the peace accords will fall by the wayside accords viewed w

idely here as fundamental to resolving the deep social problems that sparked the

 bloodshed of the 1980s . Calderon , 45 , a deeply conservative lawyer and prote

ge of right-wing ideologue Roberto d' Aubuisson , called his April 30 election `

` another step toward the definitive consolidation of democracy '' and added : `

` The fact that this is the first presidential transition since the war has crea

ted great expectations and opens new horizons for national development . '' The 

new president won 66 percent of the vote to succeed Alfredo Cristiani , a key fi

gure in negotiating the U.N.-brokered plan that ended fighting between the U.S.-

backed government and Marxist guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberat

ion Front ( FMLN ) . Under a central provision of the accords , the FMLN agreed 

to abjure violence and take part in the elections , in which they were outpolled

 by Calderon and his Republican Nationalist Alliance party ( Arena ) . Throughou

t the 1980s , El Salvador was a key battleground in the Cold War proxy battles t

hat enflamed the region . The United States poured $ 6 billion in economic and m

ilitary aid into this Massachusetts-sized nation to help defeat the FMLN , which

 was receiving support from Marxist-led Nicaragua and Cuba . But in 1990 , with 

neither side able to gain a military victory , the Soviet Union crumbling and Wa

shington reaching the end of its patience with government human rights abuses , 

the two sides agreed to initiate peace talks . The formal peace agreement was si

gned in December 1992 , ending the war that had cost 70,000 lives . Cristiani , 

who pushed for the plan over strong opposition from hard-line members of Arena ,

 left office with his popularity high , receiving warm praise from the world com

munity and grudging respect from the FMLN . Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Tal

bott led the U.S. delegation at today 's inauguration . Also present were retire

d generals Rene Emilio Ponce and Juan Orlando Zepeda-who were purged from the ar

my for human rights abuses-and a number of former FMLN commanders , many of them

 now members of the national legislature . Underscoring the continuing strength 

of the far right within Arena , some of those in attendence waved pictures of d'

 Aubuisson in characteristic pose with his right fist thrust forward . D' Aubuis

son , who died two years ago , founded Arena in 1981 and was strongly linked to 

the notorious right-wing death squads that killed tens of thousands of people he

re in the 1980s . For his part , though , Calderon used his inaugural address to

 issue a call for conciliation and political harmony-a much more moderate stance

 than he adopted during the campaign , in which he referred to the FMLN as `` te

rrorists . '' `` We do not want more confrontation or polarization , '' he said 

after accepting the presidential sash . `` We will work for collaboration among 

all social and political forces to carry forward our great national project . ''

 Under the peace agreement , the army was purged of the its most notorious human

 rights violators and was reduced by half , while the paramilitary security forc

es were disbanded . Land is to be distributed to former combatants on both sides

 , and a new National Civilian Police Force is being created that is supposed to

 include former FMLN guerrillas both in its ranks and leadership .

 WASHINGTON The Clinton administration is leaning toward seeking gradual economi

c sanctions on North Korea , rather than an immediate trade embargo , because of

 the difficulty in getting China to agree to punish the Communist country over i

ts nuclear weapons program , administration officials said Wednesday . Should Ch

ina not cooperate in the U.N. . Security Council in imposing sanctions , Washing

ton may try to persuade individual countries rather than the United Nations as a

 whole to place economic restrictions on North Korea . Such sanctions would requ

ire no endorsement by the United Nations , where China wields a Security Council

 veto . But in that case , President Clinton could face criticism that he was un

able to get China 's backing over Korea even after the administration agreed las

t week to maintain Beijing 's favorable trading status despite its poor human ri

ghts record . Clinton justified that decision , which represented a major revers

al , in part as necessary to ensure Beijing 's cooperation in security issues . 

One initial measure against North Korea being considered is an attempt to persua

de Japan to block North Koreans living in Japan from sending money to relatives 

back home . Such remittances are a major source of North Korea 's foreign exchan

ge . Officials expect the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) to report 

as early as Thursday that North Korea , by refusing to allow inspection of its k

ey nuclear facility , has made it impossible to determine if nuclear fuel was di

verted four years ago to build a bomb . Such a report almost surely would prompt

 the administration to intensify pressure on North Korea . `` We are coming peri

lously close to the precipice of sanctions , '' an administration official said 

. North Korea has said imposition of sanctions would be an act of war . North Ko

rea has recently hastened removal of fuel rods from its key atomic reactor , whi

le refusing to allow inspection of the process by the IAEA as required by an int

ernational treaty limiting the spread of nuclear weapons . The State Department 

said it was still waiting for final word from the IAEA that North Korea had reje

cted an appeal to halt withdrawal of the fuel rods , or to follow acceptable pro

cedures for storing them under international supervision . North Korea appeared 

to reject that appeal , as a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Pyongyang `` will n

ot yield to such an unreasonable act . . . and allow itself to be treated as an 

`` offender. ' ' ' Robert Gallucci , the administration 's top negotiator on the

 North Korean problem , will meet with Japanese and South Korean officials Frida

y or Saturday . Clinton 's top foreign policy advisers met Monday on the questio

n of whether to seek immediate sanctions at the Security Council . Although admi

nistration officials insist that China 's objectives precisely match Washington 

's , China has resisted calls for pressure on Pyongyang , instead counseling neg

otiations with North Korea , a former ally with which it maintains an uneasy fri

endship . As a prime fuel conduit and trading partner , China would have to be a

 primary enforcer of any sanctions . U.S. analysts believe China is reluctant to

 contribute to the weakening of a fellow Communist-led regime on its border . Ev

en if China goes along in the Security Council , a gradual approach to sanctions

 is likely , to give North Korea time to change its mind over inspections , admi

nistration officials said . The weakest resolution under review would warn North

 Korea , perhaps with a deadline after which the Security Council would consider

 sanctions . `` The overall feeling ( is ) , it is better if you start with low 

end , step by step , then work your way up the spectrum and turn up the heat , '

' a State Department official said . China shares U.S. concern about the North K

orean weapons program , but would `` prefer to work in a quieter way , without w

aving the sanctioning stick , '' the official concluded . Possible sanctions inc

lude bans on technical exchanges , financial transactions , energy deliveries an

d eventually all trade . Prohibitions on financial restrictions would include th

e remittances from Japan . Japan and other countries would prefer a U.N. cover f

or such actions to avoid taking on North Korea unilaterally and perhaps risk ter

rorist vengeance . The go-slow approach also is meant to persuade North Korea no

t to end inspections intended to guard against further development of nuclear we

apons . Pyongyang has agreed to such inspections and IAEA technicians are on the

 job , even while the government blocks the agency from taking measurements to d

etermine if fuel was diverted in the past . While it is possible that North Kore

a already has developed one or more bombs , new fuel diversions could result in 

adding five or six to its arsenal , an administration official said .

 LOS ANGELES Drawing to a close one of the most wrenching chapters in Los Angele

s history , the jury that had awarded Rodney King $ 3.8 million for his fateful 

police beating decided Wednesday to leave it at that , declining to impose punit

ive damages against the officers who beat him . The Los Angeles federal court pa

nel , which reached its verdict on the 11th day of deliberations , found that fo

rmer Los Angeles Police Department policemen Laurence M. Powell and Stacey C. Ko

on had acted with malice in the 1991 beating of King . But the jury concluded th

at the two men and the officers who backed them up should not be forced to pay K

ing for his pain and suffering a punishment that King 's lawyers had sought to d

eter similar acts in the future . King 's camp greeted the verdict with mixed em

otions , as did many residents of the city . One King attorney , John Burris , d

escribed the verdict as a `` Solomon-type decision '' that awarded King some mon

ey , but pulled back from punishing officers who some jurors felt `` have suffer

ed so much economic hardship . '' Lead attorney Milton Grimes , however , said h

e was bitterly disappointed , especially by a decision by Judge John G. Davies e

arlier in the trial to dismiss the best-known and wealthiest of the defendants ,

 former Los Angeles police Chief Daryl Gates . Grimes said he is considering an 

appeal of the decision to remove Gates as a defendant and questioned the jury 's

 wisdom . `` How do you give a man $ 3,816,535.45 who was beaten and not conside

r the badness of the beaters ? '' asked Grimes . Former officer Timothy E . Wind

 , the sole defendant present in the courtroom as the verdict was read , said he

 was satisfied with the decision . `` This has been a long road I 've traveled a

nd I am very pleased with the decision , '' said Wind , who was a probationary p

olice officer at the time of the beating . `` It 's taken a chunk out of my life

 , a big chunk . '' People throughout Los Angeles agreed that , during the past 

three years , the case has exacted a heavy toll . The most immediate reaction to

 the jury 's decision was mainly one of relief that the ordeal appears to be fin

ally playing itself out . ( Begin optional trim ) `` I 'm really glad this is ov

er , '' said Fletcher Jorden a salesman at a sporting goods store . `` It 's bee

n a long process that we 've been going through everyone . '' In fleeting remark

s to the news media as they left the courtroom , jurors alluded to the ambivalen

ce they felt in addressing the painful question of retribution against the offic

ers . The jury forewoman described the deliberations as `` a very tense situatio

n for many of us , '' and said the unanimous verdict was a hard-won compromise .

 But another juror , an African-American woman , left the courtroom in dismay . 

`` I 'm not happy . I 'm not happy at all , '' she said . `` It 's very , very u

njust . '' ( End optional trim ) The verdict marked the denouement of a drama th

at has wracked Los Angeles for more than three years . The grainy , videotaped i

mage of the white policemen clubbing the black motorist , aired first by a local

 television station , forced the city to confront long-simmering racial tensions

 and set the stage for the worst urban riots in modern history . The King case p

rompted two criminal trials , one state and the other federal . The first yielde

d not-guilty verdicts for the officers involved , triggering a riot in which 55 

people were killed . The second ended with the convictions of Koon and Powell fo

r violating King 's civil rights . Then , two months ago , a third trial began ,

 as King filed a civil suit against the city for monetary damages . By the time 

of Wednesday 's verdict , all four of the officers charged initially were pennil

ess and unemployed , and King a high school dropout and ex-con was a household n

ame and a millionaire . The civil case was essentially a two-phase process in wh

ich King asked first for compensation for medical bills , pain and suffering and

 then for punitive assessments against the individual officers . The first phase

 ended with an order from the jury that the city pay King $ 3.8 million in compe

nsatory damages . But the second part of the trial involved the much thornier is

sue of punishment for the individual officers . Jurors , who were able to use te

stimony from both phases of the trial , evaluated whether present and former off

icers used unreasonable force or acted in reckless disregard for King 's constit

utional rights , then determined whether those officers should have to compensat

e King from their own pockets . King 's lawyers had asked the jury of six women 

and three men to award between $ 3.8 million and $ 15 million in punitive damage

s from Koon , Powell , former officers Theodore J. Briseno and Wind , and curren

t officers Rolando Solano and Louis Turriaga . Grimes , King 's lead lawyer , sa

id his aim was to convey a message that `` this type of malicious beating of a p

erson will not be tolerated . '' But attorneys for defendants Koon , Powell , Wi

nd and Briseno argued that they are now impoverished and have suffered enough . 

Koon and Powell are serving 30 months in prison . Wind , a rookie probationary o

fficer , was dismissed from the department , and Briseno was suspended from the 

force and is trying to get his job back . To the end , the officers were unrepen

tant , saying they had acted within police procedure in their treatment of King 

.

 NEW YORK Diane Welsh was 19 and living in a `` hard-drinking Midwestern town ''

 when she was raped . Like most women , she didn't report the crime . Instead , 

Welsh 's friends took matters into their own hands , pummeling her attacker as t

heir form of punishment . But those actions did little to ease Welsh 's anguish 

and pain . `` I know their intentions were good . But it left me feeling more ou

t of control , '' said Welsh , who moved to New York City in 1980 and is now pre

sident of the city 's chapter of the National Organization for Women . `` It mad

e me feel like male property that had been violated . '' Welsh said that 's how 

she also feels about surgical castration and chemical castration , which some le

gislators and activists say should be used to punish rapists and other sexual of

fenders . `` We 're all agreed that rape is not about sex , it 's about power , 

'' said Welsh , who has spoken publicly about the attack against her , which occ

urred in the early '70s . `` You 're not going to deal with power by castrating 

someone . '' But the debate over castration , which has been batted around for d

ecades , emerged again this week after Guardian Angels leader Curtis Sliwa annou

nced that his organization had gathered more than 5,000 signatures on petitions 

urging castration as an optional punishment for rapists . Castration or the use 

of hormones to control sexual drive , Sliwa said , should be applied as a form o

f punishment or as part of the plea-bargaining process . The surgical procedure 

known as orchiectomy , or castration , removes the testes , producers of much of

 a man 's testosterone , which fuels sexual desire . Since the 1960s , injection

s of the testosterone-controlling drug Depo-Provera have also been used , though

 it 's only effective as long as the recipient continues taking the hormone . Th

e issue came to the national forefront in 1992 when Steve Allen Butler , a convi

cted rapist , chose to be castrated by a Texas court rather than spend his life 

behind bars . A judge who had initially granted his request later reversed his d

ecision after a surgeon willing to perform the operation could not be found . In

 the United States , there is no legislation mandating castration or the use of 

drugs as a form of punishment . However , some state legislators have proposed b

ills all in vain calling for such penalties . Experts say many rapes are committ

ed by repeat offenders , with some studies showing that 70 percent of those who 

receive no counseling or other treatment are likely to rape again . Sliwa said t

he answer may be castration . `` Hell , let 's divert to a measure that we know 

works , '' he said . `` It 's common sense , it 's pragmatic , but we 're intell

ectualizing about castration , saying that it 's barbaric . But rape is barbaric

 . '' Sliwa argues against what he calls the `` knee-jerk '' reaction of castrat

ion opponents who contend that rapists would not be deterred by the procedure be

cause sexual assault is a crime of violence . `` That first urge is completely s

exual , '' Sliwa contends . But Sherry Price and other experts in the field of r