Four-in-ten U.S. drug arrests in 2018 were for marijuana offenses – mostly possession
Police officers in the United States still make more arrests for marijuana offenses than for any other drug, according to FBI data.
Far more immigration cases are being prosecuted criminally under Trump administration
The first full fiscal year of the Trump administration saw large increases in the number of people arrested and criminally prosecuted for immigration offenses.
Why Americans Don’t Fully Trust Many Who Hold Positions of Power and Responsibility
Members of Congress and technology leaders are rated lower in empathy, transparency and ethics; public gives higher scores to military leaders, public school principals and police officers
Trust and Distrust in America
Many Americans think declining trust in the government and in each other makes it harder to solve key problems. They have a wealth of ideas about what’s gone wrong and how to fix it.
Only 2% of federal criminal defendants went to trial in 2018, and most who did were found guilty
Trials are rare in the federal criminal justice system: Just 2% of criminal defendants went to trial in fiscal 2018. Acquittals are even rarer.
From police to parole, black and white Americans differ widely in their views of criminal justice system
Attitudes vary considerably by race on issues including crime, policing, the death penalty, parole decisions and voting rights.
The gap between the number of blacks and whites in prison is shrinking
Blacks have long outnumbered whites in U.S. prisons. But a significant decline in the number of black prisoners has narrowed the gap.
Race in America 2019
Most Americans (65%) – including majorities across racial and ethnic groups – say it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Trump was elected president.
California is one of 11 states that have the death penalty but haven’t used it in more than a decade
More than a third of the states that allow executions haven’t carried one out in at least 10 years or, in some cases, much longer.
Despite recent violence, Chicago is far from the U.S. ‘murder capital’
St. Louis led the nation with 66.1 murders per 100,000 people in 2017. It was followed by Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
