The correction ladder

The failure: A benefits rule denies people whose address changed mid-application. Each denial is appealed and overturned.

Which levels are failing

• clearThe record — what is held about this person is wrong
• clearThe decision — the record was right and the decision made from it was wrong
• indictedThe rule — the decision followed the rule, and the rule is wrong for cases like this
• clearThe burden — the rule works only because someone else absorbs a cost it never counts
• clearThe question — the rule answers the wrong question, so a correct answer still fails the person
• clearThe jurisdiction — the institution is deciding something that was never its to decide

What the correction reached

The residual indicts the rule, but the correction reached the decision. A correction that stops below the failing level fixes this case and preserves the source — the appeal overturns the denial while the rule denies the next one.

The residual is the evidence that tells you which level is failing. The gap between the indicted level and the corrected level is where the institution describes itself as working: case-level relief at rule-level expense. Mark the failing levels and the achieved depth, and the gap states itself.