Show Details The United States alone locks up a quarter of the world’s incarcerated people. And yet, apart from clichés – “paying a debt to society” … “you do the crime, you do the time” – there is little sense collectively in America regarding what constitutes retribution or atonement. We don’t actually know why we punish. In his investigation into the crisis of the American criminal justice system, author Ben Austen’s powerful new book, “Correction,” offers a behind-the-scenes look at the process of parole told through the portraits of two men imprisoned for murder and the parole board that holds their freedom in the balance. In this episode of "Both Sides of the Bars," Austen discusses some of the most profound questions underlying our country’s values around crime and punishment: What must someone who commits a terrible act do to get a second chance? And what does incarceration seek to accomplish?