This report is part of a series on non-fatal violent crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault) and property crimes (burglary or trespassing, motor vehicle theft, and other types of household theft). The report also describes the characteristics of crimes and victims. Findings in this report are based on the National Crime Victimization Survey, a self-report survey administered annually from January 1 to December 31. This report found that the violent victimization rate increased from 16.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons in 2021 to 23.5 per 1,000 in 2022. From 2021 to 2022, violent victimization rates increased for both males and females. However, from 1993 to 2022, the overall rate of violent victimization declined from 79.8 to 23.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older. In 2022, about 2 in 5 (42%) violent victimizations were reported to police; this was not statistically different from the rate of reporting in 2021.

Evidence for coordinated reentry—or the coordination of services from multiple community providers—shows that it is a promising approach to supporting people with mental health needs or substance use disorders who are released from correctional facilities. One such program is the Reentry Intensive Case Management Services (RICMS) program. Through a network of 29 community-based providers located across Los Angeles County, the RICMS program links individuals with prior criminal legal system involvement to community health workers—most of whom have lived experience with the criminal legal system, housing instability, or mental health issues. For about one year, the community health workers provide care coordination and help clients navigate the many services and other forms of support available to them. This report presents findings from the RICMS evaluation, which includes a process study and outcomes study. The study used a non-experimental approach to compare the health and criminal legal system outcomes of individuals who enrolled and participated in the RICMS program with those of individuals in a matched comparison group who enrolled but did not participate in the program. Overall, the results suggest that the RICMS approach to coordinated, community-based reentry is promising and could improve the life experiences of program participants, especially by reducing their future contact with the criminal legal system. For example, although there were no significant differences between study participants and the comparison group in receiving substance use disorder treatment, RICMS participants were more likely to receive mental health treatment and less likely to visit an emergency room. RICMS participants were also less likely to have interactions with the criminal legal system and less likely to experience an arrest, be incarcerated in jail, have a new conviction, or have a probation revocation.

The Equity in Education Dashboard compiles key findings and trends on the current state of educational equity in the United States. Drawing from the framework in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report Monitoring Educational Equity, the website is divided into a series of seven domains, including: (1) kindergarten readiness, (2) K-12 learning and engagement, (3) educational attainment, (4) equitable access to high-quality learning program, (5) equitable access to high-quality curricula and instruction, (6) equitable access to supportive school and classroom environments, and (7) extent of racial, ethnic, and economic segregation. Each domain includes a set of indicators. The indicators – which are based on statistics from various data sources like national surveys of students, parents, teachers, and principals – highlight disparities in education among population groups, including differences by race/ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, English learner status, and disability status. Additionally, each domain presents detailed information on the relevant indicators as well as key findings key findings for that domain. More findings will be added to the Equity in Education Dashboard over time.

This report provides the most current data on high school graduates’ postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion outcomes. These data are the most relevant benchmarks for monitoring and evaluating progress in assisting students to make the high school to college transition and earn a credential in a timely manner. This report examines college enrollment for the high school graduating class of 2022, persistence for the class of 2020, and completion for the class of 2016. Immediate postsecondary enrollment rates increased particularly among graduates of low income and high minority high schools. Despite these early signs of recovery, the overall enrollment rate is still below pre-pandemic levels. The analysis found that 2020 graduates who did not go to college immediately during the first pandemic fall, for the most part, still remained unenrolled two years later. Additionally, disparities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) completions continued, with graduates of low poverty high schools most likely of any high school type completing a STEM credential, especially in Engineering.

In this report, the authors present findings from a study on the scale of adoption of guided pathways practices across community and technical colleges in three states—Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington—where there are state-level efforts to support adoption among colleges system-wide. Guided pathways is a whole-college redesign model designed to help all students explore, choose, plan, and complete programs aligned with their career and education goals efficiently and affordably. Using an institutional survey, the authors measure the scale at which colleges in these states have adopted guided pathways model practices. The report found that by May 2022, only a minority of colleges in each of the states had adopted at least one practice at scale from each of the four guided pathways practice areas. Most commonly, colleges adopted a few practices at scale across one or more practice areas, while other practices were still in the process of being scaled. Many colleges had put guided pathways reforms on hold because of the COVID pandemic. There is evidence, however, that most colleges in the three states are now continuing to scale guided pathways reforms.

This report examines (1) complaint data the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) makes public, (2) control activities FMCSA uses to review complaints, (3) how the complaint website follows leading practices, and (4) user outreach for the complaint website. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the FMCSA, within the U.S. Department of Transportation, maintains complaint data submitted against large commercial truck, moving, and bus companies – which are types of motor carriers. The GAO found that FMCSA makes some but not all of this complaint data available to the public, which is not consistent with Department of Transportation policy. The GAO makes 14 recommendations, including that FMCSA make all categories of its complaint data public as appropriate, update its complaint review guidance, ensure its complaint website fully follows leading practices, and develop an outreach plan for its complaint website.

This study explores the impacts of COVID-19 on ridership and recovery trends for all federally funded transit agencies in the United States from January 2020 to June 2022. The findings of this analysis show that overall transit ridership hit a 100-year low in 2020. Changepoint analysis revealed that June 2021 marked the beginning of the recovery for transit ridership in the United States. However, even by June 2022, rail and bus ridership were only about two-thirds of the pre-pandemic levels in most metropolitan statistical areas. Only in a handful of metropolitan statistical areas like Tampa and Tucson did rail ridership reach or exceed 2019 ridership. This retrospective study concludes with a discussion of some longer-term changes likely to continue to impact ridership, such as increased telecommuting and operator shortages, as well as some opportunities, such as free fares and increased availability of bus lanes. The findings of this study can help inform agencies about their performance compared to their peers and highlight general challenges facing the transit industry.

This brief presents an extended analysis of effects on earnings—the changes in participants’ outcomes attributable to each program—over a follow-up period of up to eight years for seven programs included in the Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED) project. The STED project is a large-scale U.S. Department of Health and Human Services research project designed to build rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of the latest generation of subsidized employment models. Subsidized and transitional employment programs aim to offer participants temporary jobs in which wages are at least partially paid by public or philanthropic funds, often coupled with additional services to support the transition to unsubsidized work. In this study, individuals in five cities were randomly assigned to either a program group who had access to one of seven subsidized jobs programs or to a control group who did not, but who may have sought out other services. The study found that nearly all the programs studied improved employment rates and earnings in the short term, and three of the programs saw employment effects that lasted through the end of the available data, which was up to five years after participants first enrolled in these programs. Although earnings effects tapered off after the fourth year for one program, that program showed a positive pattern of earnings increases for six years after study enrollment.

Delivery of high-quality behavioral health care is essential to supporting the readiness of the U.S. armed forces and their families. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a dramatic expansion of virtual behavioral health (VBH) care: remote patient access to behavioral health care using technology such as a computer or cellular phone. The U.S. Army asked RAND Arroyo Center to examine the use of VBH to inform recommendations on the role of VBH care in the future of behavioral health care in the military health system. For this study, the authors analyzed administrative data on VBH and in-person behavioral health care from prior to the pandemic through March 2022 and surveyed soldiers who received behavioral health care to assess their perceptions of VBH care. Administrative data analyses showed that direct care providers were less likely to deliver VBH care than private-sector providers and relied heavily on audio rather than video VBH. In addition, soldiers who received VBH care typically received a mix of VBH and in-person visits. Survey respondents who used VBH care had similar perceptions of the quality of their care and more-positive views of VBH than respondents who did not use VBH care. Few respondents had declined VBH care in favor of in-person care. Recommendations included supporting the expanded delivery of VBH among military treatment facility providers by developing a VBH care strategic plan; assessing barriers to VBH and ensuring that providers are equipped and trained to deliver VBH; and evaluating the utility of VBH in supporting continuity of behavioral health care across military treatment facilities.