This article from the January edition of the National Institute of Justice Journal summarizes, in eight packed pages, significant data on crime and punishment in America over the course of the last century, with emphasis on the last few decades. Among other things, the report examines the recent decline in property crimes comparing figures to other countries, discusses the apparent drop in...

Prepared by Patrick A. Langan and David J. Levin of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this 16-page report examines the rate of recidivism among a cohort of 272,111 former inmates for three years after their release in 1994. This particular cohort represents two-thirds of all prisoners released in the United States that year. The data analyzed in this report reveals that released prisoners with the...