Sometimes informal methods of social control are not adequate to enforce conforming or obedient behavior. In those cases, formal social control is carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, physicians, school administrators, employers, military officers, and managers of movie theaters. It can serve as a last resort when socialization and informal sanctions do not bring about desired behavior. An increasingly significant means of formal social control in the United States is to jail people. During the course of a year, 5.5 million adults undergo some from of correctional supervision jail, prison, probation, or parole. Put another way, almost one out of every 30 adult Americans is subject to this very formal type of social control every year (department of Justice 199b).