November 19, 2021
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This report compares the victimization of persons with
and without disabilities living in households, including
distributions by sex, race and Hispanic origin, age, and
disability type. Disabilities are classified according to
six types: hearing, vision, cognitive, ambulatory,
self-care, and independent living. The report also
includes crime characteristics, such as reporting to
police. The report finds that persons with disabilities
were victims of 26% of all nonfatal violent crime, while
accounting for about 12% of the population. Additionally,
persons with cognitive disabilities had the highest rate
of violent victimization (83.3 per 1,000) among the
disability types measured.
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Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
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Increasing attention has detailed negative outcomes among
interactions between autistic individuals and criminal
justice system officers, including police, across the
U.S. The purpose of this study is to identify the
experiences of autistic individuals and their caregivers
across their interactions with the criminal justice
system through quantitative and qualitative analyses of
responses from a statewide survey in one large,
northeastern state. Qualitative findings show a diverse
array of experiences between autistic individuals and the
justice system as victims, offenders, and witnesses with
both positive and negative experiences reported. The
percent of qualitative responses in which respondents
indicated being an offender or a victim in the criminal
justice system were equal (25%). Out of those who
indicated they were victims, some reported they were
victims of assault or abuse (25%), sexual violence (25%),
stolen or damaged property (21%) and/or that they were
bullied (12%). About half of the responses from
individuals who indicated they were offenders in the
criminal justice system were related to police being
called. Quantitative findings show increased risk for
justice interaction with a co-occurring psychiatric
diagnoses, gender, age, and other factors. The findings
from this study present important future directions for
research, policy, and practice.
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Source: Crime & Delinquency
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In 2019, one in 73 adults in the United States was on
probation. Probation has been viewed traditionally as an
alternative and solution to the problem of mass
incarceration. However, as the number of people on
probation has grown massively and probation supervision
has become more punitive over the past few decades,
recent reports have focused on how probation is actually
contributing to mass incarceration. But there is little
information about probation’s impact on jail populations
in particular. To remedy this, the authors obtained
detailed data from nine cities and counties participating
in Safety and Justice Challenge, a national initiative
that seeks to address over-incarceration by changing the
way the United States thinks about and uses jails. This
report explores how probation drives jail populations in
racially disparate ways—through stringent and difficult
to meet probation conditions that can result in
revocation and through the detention of people awaiting
violation hearings. Increasingly large numbers of people
are having their probation supervision revoked and are
then being sentenced to incarceration. Two sites—St.
Louis County, Missouri, and Allegheny County,
Pennsylvania—reduced the number of people on probation in
their jails by funding support services and providing for
early termination.
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Source: Vera Institute of Justice
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When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of schools
across the nation, many K-12 schools moved from in-person
to remote education, increasing their dependence on
information technology and making them potentially more
vulnerable to cyberattacks. Education facilities,
including K-12 schools, is one of the nation's critical
infrastructure subsectors. Several agencies have a role
in protecting the subsector. The objective of this report
is to determine the extent that federal agencies have
assisted schools in protecting themselves from cyber
threats. According to data from K-12 Security Information
Exchange, schools publicly reported 62 ransomware
incidents in 2019, compared to 11 ransomware incidents
reported in 2018. However, the U.S. Department of
Education has not updated its 2010 plan and has not
determined whether sector-specific guidance is needed for
K-12 schools to help protect against cyber threats.
Department of Education officials stated that the
department has not updated the sector plan and not
determined the need for sector-specific guidance because
U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency has not directed it to do
so. However, as previously stated, the department is
responsible for updating its sector plan and determining
the need for guidance. As a result, K-12 schools are less
likely to have the federal products, services, and
support that can best help protect them from cyberattacks.
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Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office
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State leaders are looking to increase post-secondary
credential attainment to build the depth and breadth of
their high-skilled labor force, and the concept of the
13th year has emerged as a model that can help do just
that. The 13th year allows students to continue public
schooling for an extra year beyond 12th grade at no
additional cost, and graduate with both a high school
diploma and an industry-relevant, transfer-ready
associate degree. Based on research, there are four
policy principles that are key to wide-scale
implementation of the 13th year concept: (1) equitable
student access; (2) high-quality programs; (3) robust
student support; and (4) cross-sector program design.
This paper explores these four principles and outlines
examples in Colorado, Texas and Washington, which have
codified policies that create a permissive policy
landscape for 13th year implementation.
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Source: Education Commission of the States
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In 2019, as part of an initiative to reduce rates of
unwanted sexual contact at military service academies,
the U.S. Department of Defense funded the development of
an assessment tool to help military service academies
assess whether they are aligned with best practices to
eliminate sexual assault and harassment. The assessment
was based on a literature review and expert feedback and
consisted of 63 criteria that represent what right looks
like in sexual assault and harassment prevention. These
criteria form the basis of this guide, which is intended
to help civilian universities and colleges assess their
own programs to prevent sexual assault and harassment.
The guide provides detailed, step-by-step instructions
for determining how an institution's efforts align with
best practices in sexual assault and harassment
prevention and how its programs can be improved.
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Source: RAND Corporation
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The power sector is key in efforts to de-carbonize the
economy. In the United States, the power sector has
reduced emissions significantly over the last 15 years or
so, due to a combination of relatively flat load growth,
coal-to-gas switching, and increases in wind and solar
deployment. Renewable energy is now in the awkward
adolescent stage – big enough to know it will be a
central part of the integrated grid, but not there yet.
Renewables play a key role in several studies and models
presenting potential paths to achieve a power system that
is reliable, affordable, and fully or substantially
de-carbonized. However, under current policies, power
sector emissions could also flat-line over the next 30
years, given high load growth (as other sectors
electrify), fewer coal plants that can be retired,
additional nuclear power retirements, and continued
growth of low-cost natural gas. Voluntary
de-carbonization commitments made by utilities, if
actually realized, could help lower emissions further,
but there is still a gap remaining to get to net-zero.
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Source: Aspen Institute
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Improving enlisted service member transitions from active
duty to civilian life calls for better information about
how service members fare in their transitions. The
authors examined the relationship among enlisted service
members' military occupations, personal characteristics,
and civilian employment outcomes over the first three
years after separation from active duty. The authors use
detailed empirical analysis of more than 1 million
service records, matched to employment and earnings after
separation. The data encompass all separations from the
armed forces from 2002 through 2010. The authors find
that post-service earnings were frequently lower than
active-duty earnings, showing that transition support is
generally needed. Additionally, the results indicated
that earnings varied markedly in relation to the former
service member's military occupation, and that
individuals with higher levels of education and more
favorable separation codes had higher earnings after
separation.
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Source: RAND
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Transit agencies played an essential role in ensuring the
mobility of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced
with a challenging environment, agencies operated buses
and trains day in, day out, moving millions of people,
especially essential workers who kept society going, even
at the height of the health crisis. Even though agencies
experienced a dramatic loss of riders during the
pandemic, they were resilient and creative in moving
forward. With good planning, effective operations, and
strong communication, agencies can adjust their services
to attract more riders. To evaluate transit agencies’
responses to the pandemic and their future plans, the
authors collected data from operators, deployed a
nationwide survey of staff, and conducted detailed case
studies of five agencies. The authors amassed information
on how demographic, employment, and travel trends may
change in the coming decades. Finally, they developed
recommendations for agencies to leverage best practices
to ensure their ability to provide equitable access to
mobility in the coming decades.
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Source: American Public Transportation Association
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This report discusses benefits that the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides to veterans and their
survivors, as well as complementary programs administered
by other branches of the federal government. These cash
and non-cash benefits allow veterans and their survivors
to access affordable health care, meet monthly living
expenses, buy homes, and pursue post-secondary education.
Estimates from the 2018 Survey of Income and Program
Participation show that in 2017 almost one-half of
veterans (46.7%) received at least one benefit. Nearly
all veterans had health insurance in every month of 2017
(94.9%) with coverage through a variety of public and
private health insurance sources. Just over
three-quarters of veterans own or are in the process of
purchasing their home. Among veterans with a mortgage,
one-third have a loan secured through the VA.
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau
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Food insecurity is associated with numerous adverse
health outcomes. The U.S. Veterans Health Administration
began universal food insecurity screening in 2017. This
study examined prevalence and correlates of food
insecurity among veterans screened. Food insecurity was
associated with medical and trauma-related comorbidities
as well as unmet social needs including housing
instability. Additionally, veterans of color and women
were at higher risk for food insecurity. Findings can
inform development of tailored interventions to address
food insecurity such as more frequent screening among
high-risk populations, onsite support applying for
federal food assistance programs, and formal partnerships
with community-based resources.
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Source: Public Health Nutrition
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The COVID-19 pandemic has placed increased strain on
health care workers and disrupted childcare and schooling
arrangements in unprecedented ways. As substantial gender
inequalities existed in medicine before the pandemic,
physician mothers may be at particular risk for adverse
professional and psychological consequences. This
prospective cohort study included 276 U.S. physicians
enrolled in the Intern Health Study since their first
year of residency training. The primary outcomes were
work-to-family and family-to-work conflict and depressive
symptoms and anxiety symptoms during August 2020.
Depressive symptoms between 2018 (before the COVID-19
pandemic) and 2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic) were
compared by gender. This study found significant gender
disparities in work and family experiences and mental
health symptoms among physician parents during the
COVID-19 pandemic, which may translate to increased risk
for suicide, medical errors, and lower quality of patient
care for physician mothers. Institutional and public
policy solutions are needed to mitigate the potential
adverse consequences for women’s careers and well-being.
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Source: JAMA Network
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Government Program Summaries (GPS) is a free resource for legislators and the public
that provides descriptive information on over 200 state government programs. To provide
fiscal data, GPS links to Transparency Florida, the Legislature's website that includes
continually updated information on the state's operating budget and daily expenditures
by state agencies.
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A publication of the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability
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