Criminal Justice

The nationwide incarceration rate is 810 prison or jail inmates for every 100,000 adult residents ages 18 and older.

Here’s a closer look at public opinion on the death penalty, as well as key facts about the nation’s use of capital punishment.

Nearly eight-in-ten U.S. adults (78%) say there is some risk an innocent person will be put to death, and 63% say the death penalty does not deter people from committing serious crimes.

Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say prosecuting those who broke in on Jan. 6 is very important and that penalties for them will likely be less severe than they should be.

A majority of Republicans say the GOP should not be accepting of Republican officials who openly criticize Donald Trump.

The number of federal prisoners sentenced to more than a year behind bars decreased by 5% between 2017 and the end of 2019.

Only two other presidents since 1900 – George W. and George H.W. Bush – granted fewer acts of clemency than Trump.

“Saddened, hurt, disgusted,” one woman in her 50s said. “Never thought I would see anything like this in my life.”

Donald Trump leaves the White House having appointed nearly as many appeals court judges in four years as Barack Obama appointed in eight.

The two primary sources of government crime statistics both paint an incomplete picture, though efforts at improvement are underway.