U.S. private prison population has declined in recent years
In 2015, about 126,000 prisoners were held in privately operated facilities under the jurisdiction of 29 states and the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Journalism
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Immigration offenses make up a growing share of federal arrests
Federal law enforcement agencies are making more arrests for immigration-related offenses and fewer arrests for other types of offenses – including drug, property and gun crimes – than they were a decade ago.
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Most Say Tensions Between Trump Administration and News Media Hinder Access to Political News
Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans say the relationship between the two is unhealthy.
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What does the federal government spend your tax dollars on? Social insurance programs, mostly
From Social Security to national parks, a look at long-range trends in federal outlays relative to the U.S. economy
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Federal criminal prosecutions fall to lowest level in nearly two decades
Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against 77,152 defendants in fiscal year 2016. That’s a decline of 25% since fiscal 2011.
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Access to paid family leave varies widely across employers, industries
Americans generally support paid family and medical leave, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, but relatively few workers have access to it. Access to paid leave varies considerably by industry, type of employer and employer’s size.
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What backgrounds do U.S. Supreme Court justices have?
When President Donald Trump nominated federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death last year of Justice Antonin Scalia, he chose a candidate whose professional background is very much in line with previous and current justices.
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The fading of the green: Fewer Americans identify as Irish
The ranks of Americans who trace their ancestry back to Ireland – long one of the most prominent subgroups in American society – are slowly declining.
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Immigrants don’t make up a majority of workers in any U.S. industry
Immigrants made up 17.2% of the total U.S. workforce in 2014, or about 27 million workers. Private households were the biggest immigrant-employing “industry,” followed by textile, apparel and leather manufacturers and the farm sector.
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What the unemployment rate does – and doesn’t – say about the economy
Although the unemployment rate gets most of the attention, the government’s monthly jobs report contains lots of other data that, properly interpreted, can provide a fuller picture of the U.S. economy.
