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New Study Estimates Annual Cost of Incarcerating Adults Convicted of Child Sex Crimes Topped .4 Billion in 2021
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New Study Estimates Annual Cost of Incarcerating Adults Convicted of Child Sex Crimes Topped $5.4 Billion in 2021

The U.S. government spent an estimated $5.4 billion last year at the state and federal level to incarcerate adults convicted of sex crimes against children under age 18, according to a new study led by a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health researcher. The study calculated annual spending on incarcerated adults convicted of sex crimes...

Biden Nominee Could Shake Up Court’s Liberal Wing
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Biden Nominee Could Shake Up Court’s Liberal Wing

If President Joe Biden follows through on his promise to nominate a Black woman to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, longer-term change to the court is possible, based on voting patterns of Black female judges versus white male judges, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis. The study, “Replacing Justice Breyer,”...

Trump’s Tweets: Telling Truth From Fiction From the Words He Used
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Trump’s Tweets: Telling Truth From Fiction From the Words He Used

Social media has supercharged the spread of information—and misinformation, which presents significant challenges when trying to distinguish between fact and fiction on social media platforms like Twitter. One of the most prolific, widely shared, and highly scrutinized Twitter accounts of the past several years belonged to former U.S. President Donald Trump. In the final year...

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How This Cycle of Redistricting Is Making Gerrymandered Congressional Districts Even Safer and Undermining Majority Rule

In a democracy, voters choose their political leaders. In a democracy that permits gerrymandering – when state legislatures draw legislative district lines that maximize the dominant party’s chances of winning seats – elected leaders choose their voters. Gerrymandering undermines representative government. But it’s nothing new. The term “gerrymander” stretches all the way back to a...

Study Shows That Increased Voting by Mail Does Not Reduce the Security of U.S. Elections
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Study Shows That Increased Voting by Mail Does Not Reduce the Security of U.S. Elections

Results of a study published in the scientific journal Risk Analysis indicate that the recent increase in mail-based voting due to COVID-19 has not jeopardized the safety of the U.S. elections process. Instead, mail-based voting increases voter access and may reduce the likelihood of adversarial interference, the authors argue. The COVID-19 pandemic led to swift changes in...

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How Brothers in Arms Plotted Theft, Sale of U.S. Army Weaponry

Packed with rifles and explosives, the SUV hurtled down a Florida interstate beneath bright blue autumn skies, passing other motorists with little notice. It was November 2018, and the driver, Tyler Sumlin, was uncomfortable. Clammy. The husky, bearded former U.S. Army soldier was getting a cold, and understandably tense: He was transporting a platoon’s worth...

Why Don’t All Politicians Use Antidemocratic Tactics to Stay in Power?
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Why Don’t All Politicians Use Antidemocratic Tactics to Stay in Power?

American democracy is in crisis—a majority of scholars and the public agree. Allegations of unfair voting practices, such as voter suppression and gerrymandering, abuses of executive power, and mounting concerns about the legitimacy of elections have become regular occurrence in the United States, rather than isolated events. If we accept the premise that politicians and...

The Biggest Threat to Your Political Candidate May Be Your Friends
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The Biggest Threat to Your Political Candidate May Be Your Friends

Have you ever thought about not voting because your preferred candidate’s victory seems assured? New Cornell University research uses mathematical modeling to show that type of thinking can have the opposite effect, resulting in the election of politicians who do not represent the preferences of the electorate as a whole. Most surprisingly, the culprit of...

Many Americans Don’t See Sports as Promoting Love of Country
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Many Americans Don’t See Sports as Promoting Love of Country

From the singing of the national anthem to salutes to military personnel, patriotic displays permeate major sports events in the United States. But only about half of Americans (47%) surveyed in 2018-2019 agreed that sports teach love of country, according to a new study.  Even fewer believed sports teach respect for the military (34%) or...

Political Ads During the 2020 Presidential Election Cycle Collected Personal Information and Spread Misleading Information
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Political Ads During the 2020 Presidential Election Cycle Collected Personal Information and Spread Misleading Information

Online advertisements are found frequently splashed across news websites. Clicking on these banners or links provides the news site with revenue. But these ads also often use manipulative techniques, researchers say. University of Washington researchers were curious about what types of political ads people saw during the 2020 presidential election. The team looked at more than...