Skip to content

Criminal Justice and Public Safety

Criminal justice and public safety is the system that responds to crime and works to keep communities safe. It runs from police and prosecutors to courts, jails, and prisons, and on to supervision and life after release. Local, state, and federal governments all take part, and each shapes who is arrested, how cases are decided, and what happens to people afterward.

81articles
12topics
October 12last updated

An independent team explaining how government works

GovFacts is a nonpartisan site that makes government concepts, policies and programs easier to understand and use.

Referenced by Brookings, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, Pew Research, Snopes, The Hill and USA Today.

The Webby-recognized AI behind our articles »

Latest in Criminal Justice and Public Safety

Juvenile Justice

How the Juvenile Justice System Differs

Juvenile court differs from adult court in age limits, legal rights like those from the Gault case, and three ways teens can be tried as adults.

Reentry After Incarceration

The Barriers People Face After Prison

Collateral consequences are legal barriers to jobs, housing, and voting that can outlast a prison sentence. Learn how to find and challenge them.

Topics in Criminal Justice and Public Safety

Courts and process

Criminal Courts and Legal Process covers how a case moves from charge to verdict, and Wrongful Convictions covers cases in which the wrong person was found guilty.

Punishment and supervision

Corrections and Incarceration covers how people are held, Probation and Parole covers supervision outside of a facility, and Reentry After Incarceration covers the return to community life.

People harmed

Victims' Rights and Services covers the support and legal protections available to people who have been hurt by crime.

All Articles on Criminal Justice and Public Safety

Why Mail Fraud Is a Federal Crime

Learn why mail fraud became a federal crime, tracing the law from an 1872 statute to today's rules on intent, mailings, and penalties reaching 20 to 30 years.

22 Min Read

How Federal Agents Are Investigated When They Kill U.S. Citizens

Two Americans are dead, shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis seventeen days apart. Renée Nicole Good, 37, mother of three, killed by an…

18 Min Read

How State Criminal Cases Can Jump to Federal Court—And Why It Rarely Happens

A federal judge in Manhattan heard arguments about something that almost never happens in American criminal law: whether to move a state conviction to…

20 Min Read

Why Courts Keep Rejecting Trump’s Hush Money Immunity Defense

Why presidential immunity has not erased Trump's New York conviction, what courts rejected, and where the state and federal proceedings stand.

11 Min Read

What Happens to a Conviction If a Case Moves to Federal Court After Trial

Whether a New York state court conviction of a former president should be thrown out is a question American courts have almost never confronted.…

12 Min Read

The Fourth Amendment Rules ICE Must Follow—And What Happens When They Don’t

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot Renée Good three times through her windshield in south Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. She was 37…

20 Min Read

How DOJ’s Civil Rights Division Normally Investigates Police Shootings

On January 7, 2026, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good during an immigration operation in Minneapolis. Within days, Deputy Attorney General Todd…

16 Min Read

How ICE Use-of-Force Rules Differ From Other Federal Agencies

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a woman during an operation in Minneapolis last week. ICE operates under its own use-of-force…

13 Min Read

What Oversight Exists When Federal Agents Shoot Civilians

On January 7, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. At least four separate…

21 Min Read