Carrie Johnson

Updated at 4:11 p.m. ET

More than 3,100 people will leave Bureau of Prisons custody starting Friday, part of what Justice Department officials call "a truly monumental effort" to comply with the First Step Act, a criminal justice law passed by Congress last year.

Most of the offenders being freed have been convicted of drug-related crimes and have been living in halfway houses across the United States in preparation for their release, acting BOP chief Hugh Hurwitz told reporters at a news conference in Washington.

Thursday marks one year since a divided Senate confirmed Brian Benczkowski to lead the Justice Department's criminal division.

The 51-48 vote reflected Democrats' worry that he'd try to interfere with the investigation into Russia's attack on the 2016 election.

Things didn't work out that way.

Benczkowski promised to consult with career officials about any possible conflicts with the special counsel probe, but he said this week that never became necessary.

A teenager's life is on the line — but he is nowhere to be found.

People have gathered inside a D.C. government building on a rainy holiday morning to help decide what happens to the young man, but he hasn't shown up.

After several phone calls and nearly an hour of waiting, the 16-year-old boy finally arrives. NPR, which was permitted to attend the meeting for this story, is not identifying him because he is a minor.

Facilitator Roman Haferd is eager to get started.

Nearly half the people admitted to state prisons in the U.S. are there because of violations of probation or parole, according to a new nationwide study that highlights the personal and economic costs of the practice.

The Council of State Governments Justice Center said the majority of these violations are for "minor infractions," such as failing a drug test or missing a curfew. Those so-called technical violations cost states $2.8 billion every year, the report says.

One day in 1981, public corruption prosecutor Reid Weingarten flipped open his newspapers and found himself caught in an unpleasant squeeze.

Supporters of an African American federal judge suspected of taking part in a bribery scheme told reporters that Weingarten was a Ronald Reagan-loving "racist."

Meanwhile, a combative Republican member of Congress under investigation for violating the Ethics in Government Act took to the press to call him a Jimmy Carter "lefty."

Go figure.

Updated at 1:14 p.m. ET

Special counsel Robert Mueller stepped down Wednesday after concluding not only one of the highest-profile investigations in recent history, but one of the most distinctive codas in the career of any top Washington official.

Mueller addressed reporters at the Justice Department in his first public statement since taking over the Russia investigation, ending two years of near-silence even under one of the hottest spotlights ever to burn on a public figure.

Updated at 5:54 p.m. ET

Prosecutors are bringing a slate of new charges against Julian Assange, including alleged violations of the Espionage Act, raising the stakes for his prospective extradition from the United Kingdom.

The release of convicted terrorists after they complete prison sentences is "absolutely a concern," a senior FBI counterterrorism official said — but he sought to assure the public that investigators work to assess those risks months before someone walks out of the gates.

The remarks followed hours after the "American Taliban," John Walker Lindh, exited a prison in Indiana after serving 17 years behind bars for providing support to the Taliban.

Nearly two years ago, authorities arrested a 69-year-old man they said was plotting a mass shooting at a Jacksonville, Fla., mosque. Shauib Karim, who used to keep his distance from the FBI, said that incident changed him.

"We all are kind of negative about law enforcement. We don't interact with them much," Karim recalled.

Attorney General William Barr has been on the job for just 10 weeks, but in the short time he has led the Justice Department, he has already managed to put his stamp on the place.

In the long run, Barr's tenure may be judged by his handling of the special counsel report on Russian election interference — a performance that a book reviewer at The New York Times recently likened to a "velvet fog."