Juveniles (persons age 17 or younger) arrested or convicted for a criminal offense may be housed in juvenile residential facilities or in adult jails and prisons, depending on state statute, judicial discretion, and federal law. This report details trends for juveniles who are held in adult facilities. The number of juveniles incarcerated in all U.S. adult prisons or jails declined from a peak of 10,420 in 2008 to a low of 2,250 in 2021. In 2021, local jails had custody of 1,960 juveniles while state and federal adult prisons held 290. The percent of the total jail population who were juveniles declined from 0.9% in 2002 to 0.3% in 2021. The percent of the total prison population who were juveniles declined from 0.2% in 2002 to 0.02% in 2021. In 2021, 87% of juveniles in adult correctional facilities were held in local jails and 13% were held in prisons, compared to 66% in local jails and 34% in prisons in 2002, the earliest year for which comparable data are available for both populations.

In 2020, 21% of American adults had a mental illness and 14.5% had a substance use disorder. However, almost half of people in state prisons that year (48%) had a mental illness, 26% had a substance use disorder, and 24% had co-occurring mental health and substance use treatment needs. Correctional facilities often do not have adequate access to treatment and medications for people with these conditions. Additionally, because law enforcement officers frequently function as first responders to calls involving people with behavioral health needs, law enforcement agencies are incurring excessive costs related to emergency response without improved long-term outcomes. Many communities have successfully diverted people from the criminal justice system by helping them access low-barrier treatment in the community, such as through crisis hotlines, crisis centers, and community mental health clinics or substance use treatment providers. The Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) is a specially designated clinic that provides a comprehensive range of mental health and substance use services through expanded care coordination with primary care providers, hospitals, social services, law enforcement, and other health services. This model provides support to communities to help ensure that evidence-based care is available for people with mental health disorders or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders who may be involved in the criminal justice system and to minimize incarceration and recidivism risks. These clinics are not-for-profit organizations or units of a governmental behavioral health authority and may be funded via multiple streams. There are currently more than 500 CCBHCs operating in 46 states, plus Washington, DC; Puerto Rico; and Guam. A growing number of states are moving to implement the model through a state plan amendment or Medicaid waiver, and individual community mental health and substance use services organizations continue to seek funding through federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) funded CCBHC Expansion Grants. Florida is among several states with clinics that have received expansion grants. Grantees receive up to $4 million directly from the SAMHSA to carry out activities of the CCBHC but are not part of a statewide CCBHC initiative and do not receive an enhanced Medicaid payment rate.

Cyberstalking involves using communications technology in threatening ways to stalk, harass, or share embarrassing information about victims, and it often involves the threat of intimate partner violence. As online platforms and messaging technologies have multiplied, cyberstalking has become more prevalent. Yet the problem has been understudied, and its dynamics are not well known. In this report, the authors offer the first empirical analysis on federal cyberstalking cases. They analyzed the number, characteristics, and outcomes of federal cyberstalking cases filed over time and conducted in-depth interviews with prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and victims' advocacy representatives. The authors found that the number of federally prosecuted cyberstalking cases has grown steadily since 2014; the victim knew the offender in the majority of cases; the legal system is underprepared to handle these cases; and tying the digital evidence to the offender(s) is a major challenge in prosecuting cyberstalking cases because tech-savvy offenders can be sophisticated at hiding digital tracks. Recommendations include updating awareness campaigns regarding online safety and developing better warnings and indicators of potentially harmful online activities; clarifying cyberstalking legal statutes by removing the intent to harm clause; improving interactions between victims and the criminal justice system; and increasing resources and information on emerging technology and investigative strategies available to law enforcement.

Obtaining a high school diploma helps open doors for young people; however, while overall graduation rates are improving, persistent disparities in graduation rates among groups of students remain, and must be addressed. High school reform is a viable approach to addressing these disparities. Early College High Schools, Small Schools of Choice, and Career Academies are all secondary school reform models that have been rigorously studied and shown to improve student outcomes in many areas, including math and reading achievement, high school graduation, postsecondary enrollment, and earnings later in life. This report seeks to assist practitioners and policymakers in education in making systematic, evidence-based decisions. The authors reviewed 13 evaluations of comprehensive reform efforts, identified the features of the models evaluated, and categorized them to create a high school reform framework that can be generally applied. They also compiled information on prevalent features of reform models that have proven promising for improving student outcomes. The following features appeared commonly across models and were associated with positive effects on student outcomes: personalized relationships with school staff members, increased academic rigor, teacher/student respect, teacher professional development, teacher/parent communication, principal leadership, and teacher mutual support.

Research and emerging trends have raised increasing concerns about unfairness and abuses of disability policies, particularly with regard to intersectional disadvantages and advantages that may emerge in the implementation of Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act, depending on a student’s social identities. In this policy brief, the authors present research to inform policymaking around Section 504. They also consider the trends documenting ongoing and even increasing inequities in how the law is being used. Because many of these inequities are systemic, they provide recommendations that include policy actions at the federal, state, and local levels. These recommendations include having the federal government survey providers and others receiving help from technical assistance centers to identify aspects of Section 504 implementation that need additional federal support to address disparities in access to 504 accommodation, having states analyze school- and district-level trends in Section 504 in comparison to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) data through an intersectional lens, including disability and other social identities, to identify compounded advantages and disadvantages in Section 504 implementation, and having local policymakers collaborate with researchers to conduct studies that will inform district policy related to the equitable use of accommodations for students with disabilities.

There is a renewed focus on what constitutes a well-rounded education, as well as a growing interest in broader indicators of educational success, including social and emotional development and school engagement. However, identifying educational practices that improve such outcomes has proven elusive. This article explores the role of arts education on a broad range of educational outcomes using administrative and survey data from Boston’s public schools. The authors find that students receiving the arts in school attend more, are more engaged, and their parents and teachers are more likely to participate and be engaged at school, with larger effects for students with individualized education plans, students with lower standardized test scores, and students with a history of chronic absenteeism. These findings call attention to the pivotal role of the arts in providing students with socially and emotionally supportive learning environments that enhance relationships between students and schools.

This brief examines household wealth at the end of 2021 using the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 Survey of Income and Program Participation public-use data. It highlights differences in asset ownership and debt-holding rates and demonstrates significant variation in median household wealth by demographic and economic characteristics such as education and income. By illustrating how wealth varies across U.S. households, this brief provides key insights into the economic wellbeing of households. The assets with the highest median values were primary home equity ($174,000) and rental property equity ($200,000). Equity in one’s own home was the third-most common asset class; 61.9% of households owned a home during the year. Rental property was among the least commonly held assets, owned by 7.0% of households. Retirement accounts were also a major source of wealth, with a median value of $79,900. They were the fourth-most common asset class, owned by 59.5% of households. The median wealth of married householders was greater at all age levels than that of unmarried householders. For example, married householders under the age of 35 had a median wealth 9.2 times that of unmarried female householders and 3.1 times that of unmarried male householders.

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent economic challenges, including inflation and increased housing costs, have raised questions about whether more U.S. households are experiencing hunger and homelessness. The authors reviewed five key federal programs that provide food or housing assistance to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness: the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Continuum of Care and Emergency Solutions Grants, Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Emergency Food Assistance Program. Federal funding for such programs generally increased in Fiscal Years 2017-2022. These programs use various criteria to determine the amount of funding to jurisdictions, but normally do not use homelessness rates. Due to a CARES Act-related change to the Emergency Solutions Grants, using such criteria in one funding formula in 2020 resulted in better targeting of funds to states with large populations experiencing homelessness. The first round allocated $1 billion using the traditional formula, which does not factor in measures of homelessness. The second round allocated $2.96 billion using a formula that weighted indicators of homelessness. As a result, states with the largest homeless populations received a greater share of program funds in the second round. For example, California, New York, Texas, and Florida accounted for over 50% of funds allocated in the second round, compared to about 34% in the first round.

Many state and local pension systems are facing funding crises. The average U.S. public pension plan cannot cover a quarter of its obligations to provide pension benefits to current, retired, and former employees, and 17 systems are unable to cover more than half of their obligations. Using a comprehensive approach based on a synthesis of multidisciplinary research and discussions with stakeholders, the authors examine the recent history of pension finance, possible consequences for sponsoring government finances and services, reforms to pension financing and benefits aimed at shoring up system's funding, and characteristics of local institutions and politics that limit reforms. An overarching finding is that there is not a single national pension crisis. There are many small crises that reflect local circumstance, history, and constraints, including legacy pension costs. The authors found that state and local governments with underfunded pension systems often exhibit an array of budget, workforce, and public service issues that complicate addressing the funding crisis. Causes of pension crises are complex, and common contributors include incorrect actuarial assumptions, institutional constraints, poor governance, lack of expertise among stakeholders and decision makers, adversarial political culture, and conflicting incentives and interests. Reforms can take multiple paths, such as changes to contributions, benefits, actuarial assumptions, governance structure, and addressing conflicts of interest. Research is lacking on the frequency of reforms beyond contribution and benefit reform and the effectiveness of reforms at reducing pension underfunding. The authors report that reform implementation is an ongoing process and requires a knowledgeable navigator. Stakeholders often reported that pension reform came after a person or group in the government adopted the issue, became informed, and communicated the challenges created by underfunding.

Xylazine, a drug approved for veterinary medicinal use for sedation, anesthesia, muscle relaxation, and analgesia (pain relief), has received recent attention due to its increasing involvement in drug overdose deaths in the United States. This study presents trends in drug overdose death rates involving xylazine from 2018 through 2021, overall and by sex. The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths involving xylazine increased from 0.03 per 100,000 standard population in 2018 to 1.06 in 2021. Rates for males were at least twice the rates for females for each year between 2018 and 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, rates increased across all age groups and reportable race and Hispanic-origin categories. In 2020, rates were highest among those aged 25–34 and 35–44, while in 2021, rates were highest among those aged 35–44. In 2020 and 2021, rates were highest among Black or African-American non-Hispanic people (0.68 and 1.82, respectively). However, the largest increase in rates occurred among Hispanic or Latino people compared with other groups, tripling from 0.21 in 2020 to 0.64 in 2021. In 2021, the highest rate of drug overdose deaths involving xylazine occurred in Region 3 (which includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia), followed by other regions along the East Coast. Fentanyl was the most frequently co-occurring drug mentioned on xylazine death records between 2018 and 2021.

Family economic well-being—including financial, material, and related socio-emotional resources—can support a family’s long-term stability, a positive home environment, and children’s healthy development. However, 1 in 10 families with children live below the poverty line in the United States and poverty is disproportionately concentrated among Black, Native American, and Latino families. Early childhood home visiting (ECHV) has the potential to support families’ economic well-being. In ECHV, trained home visitors work in the home with expectant parents or families with young children. Generally, their services focus on supporting and improving maternal, child, and family health and development outcomes. Some ECHV models also address economic aspects of families’ lives and have demonstrated positive effects on outcomes such as parents’ income. The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the federal Administration for Children and Families in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration initiated the Supporting Family Economic Well-Being through Home Visiting (HomeEc) project to better understand how to define and measure family economic well-being and to learn how ECHV agencies have supported or could support it. This report summarizes the findings from targeted reviews of literature and practice documents from ECHV and related fields, such as social work, child welfare, and employment- and income-focused supports. It includes (1) a definition of family economic well-being, (2) a summary of the factors that contribute to or are influenced by it, (3) a summary of how it is measured in research and practice, (4) a set of practices that can support it, and (5) implications for later work on this project and future research.

Efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus led to dramatic reductions in nonemergency medical care services during the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Delayed or missed screenings can lead to more advanced stage cancer diagnoses with potentially worse health outcomes and exacerbate preexisting racial and ethnic disparities. The objective of this analysis was to examine how the pandemic affected rates of breast and colorectal cancer screenings by race and ethnicity. The authors analyzed panels of providers that placed orders in 2019–2020 for mammogram and colonoscopy cancer screenings using electronic health record data. Results showed considerable declines in both types of screenings from March through May 2020, relative to the same months in 2019, for all racial and ethnic groups. Some rebound in screenings occurred in June through December 2020, particularly among White and Black patients; however, use among other groups was still lower than expected. This research suggests that many patients experienced missed or delayed screenings during the first few months of the pandemic, which could lead to detrimental health outcomes. Findings also underscore the importance of having high-quality data on race and ethnicity to document and understand racial and ethnic disparities in access to care.