Criminal Justice

Obama is on pace to become the first president since Carter to leave the White House with a smaller federal prison population than when he took office.

Just five states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Texas – accounted for all 20 executions in the U.S. in 2016.

There were 91 reported aggravated or simple assaults motivated by anti-Muslim bias in 2015, just two shy of the 93 reported in 2001.

Despite double-digit decreases in U.S. violent and property crime rates since 2008, most voters say crime has gotten worse during that span.

Blacks and whites in the U.S. disagree over police performance and differ on the causes of fatal encounters between blacks and police.

While most Americans continue to favor the death penalty for murder convictions, far fewer people are receiving death sentences than in years past.

Over 1300 executions have occurred in the U.S. since 1977, the year after the Supreme Court reaffirmed its approval of the death penalty. See how many executions have been performed in each state since the ruling.

Seven-in-ten blacks said that blacks in their community were treated less fairly than whites in dealings with the police, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey.

Several government agencies and nonprofit groups gather and publish data on school shootings and other public mass killings. But because of data lags and differing definitions, getting a clear read on overall trends is surprisingly hard.

Faced with overcrowded prisons and soaring correctional costs, states are rethinking how to define and punish drug crimes.