For those of us who advocate for justice in the American criminal and juvenile justice system, the last eight years have been nothing if not interesting, exciting...and frustrating. The collision of a general fiscal crisis at all levels of government, and America's exploding and ineffective prison system created a perfect storm for unlikely partnerships between justice reform advocates and fiscal conservative, who through the years successfully linked government overspending to ineffective and expensive "tough on crime" and "lock'em up" policies.