bureau of justice statistics News

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US Executions Drop by 12 Percent in 2010

WASHINGTON -- The number of executions in the United States dropped 12 percent in 2010, and the number of people sentenced to die is nearing historic lows, a report from an anti-capital punishment group says. The Death Penalty Information Center attributed the reductions to changing attitudes toward capital punishment,...

Why Is Attorney General Eric Holder Dragging His Feet on Prison Rape?

(Aug. 27) -- A new report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that sexual violence in prison is rampant. During the year prior to when the BJS took its survey, it found that 64,500 inmates in state and federal prison had been abused, as had another 24,000 in county jails. According to The New York Review of Books,...

A Rare Drop in the Jail Population

(June 4) -- The number of inmates in local jails across the United States is down for the first time since the government started tracking the numbers in 1982, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. A tally conducted in mid-2009 found that 767,620 inmates were in jails, down 17,936 or 2.3 percent from a...