> "What her research shows is that these institutions may be self-defeating and may carry very significant social costs," Western says. "And so the whole effort

> "What her research shows is that these institutions may be self-defeating and may carry very significant social costs," Western says. "And so the whole effort to improve public safety through criminal-justice supervision and through incarceration may have significantly backfired, and may in many ways have contributed to the ongoing poverty and shortage of opportunities that we see there. That's a fairly new story." Everybody with half a brain has known this forever.