All states have laws which establish an upper age of original jurisdiction for juvenile courts (age 16 or 17, depending on the state). However, states also have various laws that allow youth younger than this age to be tried as adults in criminal court. This brief presents estimates for the number of juvenile cases judicially waived to criminal court from 1985 through 2020. In 2020, 77% fewer cases were judicially waived to criminal court than were waived in 1994, the peak year. The number of delinquency cases judicially waived peaked in 1994 at 13,000 cases, more than double the number of cases waived in 1985. Judicially waived delinquency cases decreased 77% to its lowest level in 2020, when juvenile courts waived an estimated 3,000 delinquency cases. The decline in violent crime committed by youth drove much of the decrease in judicial waivers throughout the 1990s. However, part of the decline in judicial waivers can be attributed to the simultaneous and widespread expansion of non-judicial transfer laws.

This report provides an analysis of the federally sentenced individuals in Fiscal Year 2021 by educational attainment. The U.S. Sentencing Commission has previously published reports on the relationship between demographic factors and sentencing, but none have focused specifically on the educational attainment of federally sentenced individuals. This report found that most federally sentenced U.S. citizens had a high school degree (42.3%) or never graduated high school (28.4%). Additionally, federally sentenced U.S. citizens with more educational attainment had less extensive criminal histories than sentenced persons in lower educational attainment groups. The types of offenses committed by federally sentenced U.S. citizens varied by educational attainment. For those with less than a high school degree, drug trafficking (42.0%) was the most common offense, while sentenced individuals with an undergraduate or graduate degree were convicted more often for economic or sex offenses than sentenced persons with less education. However, whether the degree was key to the facilitation of the offense varied considerably by type of graduate degree. A substantial majority of medical doctors (85.6%) and sentenced individuals with graduate degrees in nursing (82.1%) required their degree to commit the offense. In contrast, 29.3% of lawyers required their degree to commit the offense.

This briefing examines the reasons behind the 2022 increase in state and federal prison populations. The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics prison and jail populations report showed that for the first time in almost a decade the combined state and federal prison populations increased and that jail populations had reached 90% of their pre-pandemic level. The authors examined annual data as well as 2022 crime and victimization data, criminal court case processing, and 2023 jail and prison data to identify and understand trends in prison and jail populations. The authors found that increases in prison populations were driven by changes in admissions; 11% more people were sent to prison in 2022 than in 2021. Local jail populations grew at an even faster pace than prisons in 2022; jails held 4% more people at the end of June 2022 than at the end of June 2021. Additionally, preliminary 2023 data for 43 prison systems indicated that in 28 of these prison systems more people were incarcerated in 2023 than in 2022. Similarly, jail data, collected from 942 jails across the U.S., show a 0.7% increase in the average daily population in 2023 compared to 2022. The authors conclude that these populations are increasing and can be expected to continue to climb in the next few years, not because of changes in crime but because courts have largely recovered from the slowdowns caused by the pandemic and many states have rolled back criminal legal system reforms.

This report presents selected findings from the Current and Former Teacher Data Files of the 2021–22 Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS). The TFS is a longitudinal component of the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS). The report found that among public school teachers who were teaching during the 2020–21 school year, 84% remained at the same school during the 2021–22 school year (“stayers”), 8% moved to a different school (“movers”), and 8% left the teaching profession (“leavers”). Among private school teachers who were teaching during the 2020–21 school year, 82% remained at the same school during the 2021–22 school year (“stayers”), 6% moved to a different school (“movers”), and 12% left the teaching profession (“leavers”). Among public school teachers whose total teaching experience at any school in 2020–21 was 3 years or less, 80% remained at the same school during the 2021–22 school year, 13% moved to another school, and 7% left teaching. Among public school teachers with 15 or more total years of teaching experience at any school in 2020–21, some 86% remained at the same school during the 2021–22 school year, 6% moved to another school, and 9% left teaching. Among teachers in 2020–21 who moved to another school for the 2021–22 school year, 19% of public school teachers and 16% of private school teachers changed schools involuntarily. Among teachers in 2020–21 who were no longer teaching in the 2021–22 school year, 3% of public school teachers and 9% of private school teachers left teaching involuntarily. Reasons that teachers left teaching or changed schools involuntarily included that their contract was not renewed, they were laid off, or their school closed or merged.

This analysis extends previous research by analyzing the relationship between leisure digital reading habits and reading comprehension. Using data on 469,564 participants from studies published between 2000 and 2022, the authors analyze 40 effect sizes using multilevel analysis. The average effect size reflects a small significant effect on reading comprehension, which contrasts with the medium size effects found in the literature related to print reading habits and comprehension. This relationship is significantly moderated by the reader’s educational stage. At early stages (primary and middle school) negative relationships are observed between leisure digital reading and text comprehension, while at later stages (high school and university) the relationship turns positive. The authors highlight the different contributions that reading modalities and technological contexts have on reading comprehension, especially across the lifespan. In sum, leisure digital reading does not seem to pay off in terms of reading comprehension, at least, as much as traditional print reading does.

This research identified how many middle and high school students take care of parents, siblings, and grandparents at home, via student surveys across Rhode Island public schools. Further, the authors investigated how students’ caregiving for family related to their school engagement, belonging, and emotional well-being. A sizable proportion of students reported caring for family for part (29%) or most of the day (7%). Girls and Black, Asian, Latinx, Native, and multiracial youth were more likely to care for family, compared to boys and White non-Latinx youth. Caregiving students from all demographics were more likely to experience intense sadness compared to non-caregivers, revealing a need to support caregiving youth in schools. In addition, caregiving girls reported lower levels of school engagement and school belonging. However, caregiving for part of the day was related to greater belonging among Black and Native youth.

This report examines capital access for veteran-owned small businesses and the federal Small Business Administration’s (SBA) role in serving these businesses. The report describes characteristics of veteran-owned businesses and their challenges in accessing capital, examines SBA performance data on its veterans outreach program, examines SBA lending to veteran-owned small businesses in 2016–2021, and (assesses SBA policies and procedures for complying with selected statutory requirements concerning veterans. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that characteristics of small businesses owned by veterans generally were similar to those owned by non-veterans and the veteran-owned businesses frequently cited challenges related to long wait times for credit decisions, difficulty with application processes, and high interest rates. The SBA facilitates access to capital for small business owners, including veterans, through three loan programs. The GAO found that veteran-owned small businesses received about 2%–5% of all loans in the three programs in fiscal years 2016–2021. However, the GAO found that some of the SBA’s quarterly performance reports did not include all the required information, such as the number of counseling sessions. The GAO made three recommendations for the SBA including developing guidance for veterans outreach center quarterly reporting, establishing procedures to comply with statutorily required annual reporting, and establishing procedures to give special consideration to veterans in its lending programs.

This research examines the effects of right-to-work laws, which removed agency shop protection and weakened union powers on long hours and non-standard work schedules that may adversely affect workers' health and safety. The authors exploit variation in the timing of enactment across U.S. states and compare workers in bordering counties across adopting states and states that did not adopt the laws yet. Using the stacked approach to difference-in-differences estimates, the authors find evidence that right-to-work laws increased the share of workers working long hours by 6%, while there is little evidence of an impact on hourly wages. The effects on long hours are larger in more unionized sectors (i.e. construction, manufacturing, and transportation). While the likelihood of working non-standard hours increases for particular sectors (education and public administration), there is no evidence of a significant increase in the overall sample.

This research examines six case studies from diverse community contexts to explore lessons learned from prior non-profit organization (NPO) involvement in non-declared-disaster events. The research found that NPOs play a key role in disaster recovery, but the benefits within or across communities might not be evenly distributed, and this particularly disadvantages underserved populations. However, qualitative data are lacking about the mechanisms by which NPOs enhance equitable, long-term economic recovery after non-declared disasters, and comprehensive, centralized data on NPO activities in disaster recovery are generally unavailable. The authors recommend that NPOs and government agencies improve coordination to enhance disaster recovery efforts in underserved communities and develop a conceptual framework for NPOs' roles in disaster recovery to prioritize data collection.

This report presents the provisional number of deaths due to suicide in 2022 by demographic characteristics (age, sex, and race and Hispanic origin) compared with final 2021 data. —Data are based on more than 99% of all 2022 death records received and processed by the National Center for Health Statistics as of August 6, 2023. Comparisons are made with final 2021 data. The report found that the provisional number of suicides in 2022 (49,449) was 3% higher than in 2021 (48,183). The provisional age-adjusted suicide rate was 1% higher in 2022 (14.3 deaths per 100,000 standard population) than in 2021 (14.1). The age-adjusted suicide rate was 1% higher in 2022 than 2021 for males (23.1 compared with 22.8) and 4% higher for females (5.9 compared with 5.7). Suicide rates generally declined for males ages 34 and younger, but increased for those 35 and older. Similarly, for females rates declined for those ages 24 and younger, but increased for those 25 and older. Suicide rates increased for nearly all race and Hispanic-origin groups, however, only the 3% increase for White non-Hispanic females was statistically significant.

This study evaluates associations between subjective cognitive decline and adverse childhood experiences and other modifiable risk factors to support implementation of the initiative. The authors use data from the 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey to evaluate associations between subjective cognitive decline and adverse childhood experiences scores and sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical risk factors. The results showed that approximately 8.1% of survey respondents reported experiencing subjective cognitive decline within the past 12 months. Additionally, regression analysis results showed that conditions such as depression, arthritis, and diabetes were significantly associated with subjective cognitive decline. Furthermore, subjective cognitive decline was associated with experiencing more than three falls per year, sleeping more than nine hours per night, and physical inactivity. Two or more adverse childhood experiences also significantly increased the odds of subjective cognitive decline.

This research examines whether Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) was associated with lower health care spending and utilization and improved quality of care. CPC+ was a national advanced primary care medical home model that aimed to strengthen primary care through regionally-based multi-payer payment reform and care delivery transformation. The authors use difference-in-differences regression models to compare changes in outcomes between the year before CPC+ and five intervention years for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries attributed to CPC+ and comparison practices. The results indicated that CPC+ was associated with no discernible changes in the total expenditures, and with increases in expenditures including enhanced payments. The authors also examined secondary outcomes including expenditure categories, utilization (e.g., hospitalizations), and claims-based quality-of-care process and outcome measures (e.g., recommended tests for patients with diabetes and unplanned readmissions). Among secondary outcomes, CPC+ was associated with decreases in emergency department visits starting in year 1, and in acute hospitalizations and acute inpatient expenditures in later years. Associations were more favorable for practices also participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and independent practices. However, CPC+ was not associated with meaningful changes in claims-based quality-of-care measures.