Cities are struck with poverty, drug addiction and violent crime, and communities rally behind politicians who promote harsher laws and punishments. But as these policies play out, some Americans will question the true cost of the system.

The exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and outlaws like John Dillinger fill the headlines, which makes them folk heroes in their own time and the FBI launches a public relations push to build support for its “war on crime.”

A new generation of Progressives exposes the cruelty, corruption, and prejudice in the criminal justice system and sets about trying to improve prisons, reform police and make the nation fairer and more just.

Some colonists argue that public punishments make “bad men worse” and look for an alternative.