Victims of crime often experience negative physical, emotional, and financial consequences. It is essential to understand the various needs of victims and how different types of services can most effectively support them. Although stakeholders may implement programs with the best intentions, using seemingly reasonable approaches, programs may ultimately not affect victims or even cause them unanticipated harm. Evaluations of programs and practices can provide needed data and information to understand whether, how, and for whom a program works. Evaluations also play a critical role in guiding policymakers and funding organizations, program providers, and other stakeholders as they make important decisions such as whether to continue, revise, or expand an existing program — or pursue other practices. Evaluations enable stakeholders to make better judgments about strengthening the quality of services, improving outcomes, and allocating resources. They also increase accountability and transparency in program implementation. This article explores two types of evaluations — formative and process — describing when they should be used and what they should include. It then discusses three formative and process evaluations funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) that examined technology-based victim service programs. These evaluations provide important information about program operations, implementation, research capacity, resources, and victim populations served, and they offer guidance for subsequent evaluations. Researchers partnered with the local organization The SAFE Alliance to conduct a formative evaluation of its SAFEline program. The SAFE Alliance provides various services for adult and youth victims of crime and violence, including sexual assault and exploitation, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and child abuse and neglect. Researchers found that the SAFEline service model and approach were user-centered, trauma-informed, social justice-oriented, and social presence-facilitated. Researchers also observed that chat and text hotlines were crucial to service availability for crime victims because it provided immediate crisis services and functioned as a supportive space for victims. In addition, preliminary analyses of SAFEline service use data showed that chat and text services increased access to teens and young adults, Spanish-speaking service users, and individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Deficiencies in the quality and interoperability of law enforcement data have been identified as major problems that hamper law enforcement decision-making and operations. Data governance and data management can address these issues by improving the quality and shareability of data. This report provides the results of a panel of experts convened to identify the greatest need to leverage data governance and data management knowledge to enable major improvements in the quality, availability, and interoperability of law enforcement data. Findings from the panel include 1) Data collection (and policing processes more broadly) focuses on incidents, criminal investigations, people, and cases. Thinking about problems and larger crime-generating issues and potential solutions outside direct policing responses is not historically supported; 2) Failure to prevent abuse of emerging technologies (e.g., facial recognition systems) might lead to loss of access to them. Standard practices on how to properly use technologies are needed; 3) Improper use of technologies can create destructive feedback loops in which certain communities are over-enforced because of sensor hits (cameras, shot detection), which in turn leads to more technology and sensor hits; 4) Key parties have not historically been in the room to make data decisions. An equity process during planning and implementation is needed to detect and mitigate any data problems. This needs to happen explicitly; and 5) There are concerns about commercial providers using certain data formats for reasons of their own, locking in agencies with specific vendors, and charging a lot more for agencies to access their own data or provide specific data exchanges. Even when two agencies share the same platform, they often cannot share information because the data were set up differently.

Many schools use exclusionary discipline—such as suspensions and expulsions—to deter students from misbehaving and to protect students from the harms associated with exposure to student misbehavior. Research indicates that exclusionary discipline increases misbehavior and risks of dropout and juvenile and adult incarceration. Moreover, exclusionary discipline exerts secondary harm, negatively impacting the school climate among those who see their peers suspended. Research has also detected racial disparities in how exclusionary discipline is applied. Black students are far more likely to experience exclusionary discipline and its negative side effects. Black students are nearly four times more likely than White students to receive an out-of-school suspension, and Black-White disparities in suspensions and expulsions emerge in all student subpopulations—across all demographic groups, educational contexts, and grade levels. Research demonstrates that stark racial disparities in discipline are not a function of racial disparities in student misbehavior, nor of how students sort into schools. Instead, disparities are largely driven by school practices. In response, schools have implemented restorative practices, which include proactive practices to inculcate conflict resolution skills and strengthen community bonds (e.g., through community-building circles) and responsive practices to resolve conflicts and repair relationships (e.g., through mediation and harm-repair circles). This study examines the effects of restorative practices on academic, disciplinary, behavioral, and health outcomes by combining data regarding the practices in 485 middle schools with detailed school attendance and student outcome data for approximately 2 million middle school students. Researchers track student exposure to these practices over time and analyze how exposure to restorative practices affects outcomes at the individual and school levels, controlling for student and school characteristics. Researchers found that exposure to restorative practices improved students’ academic achievement and reduced suspension rates and duration. Researchers also found that the effects of restorative practices on academic outcomes were positive for all students while stronger for Black and Latino students, thus reducing discipline gaps and achievement gaps. However, access to restorative practices was not equitable across student groups even after controlling for a range of other school-level factors.

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted student achievement, with declines rivaling those after Hurricane Katrina. These losses widened achievement gaps between historically marginalized students and their peers. Three years later, achievement remains behind pre-pandemic levels for many students. This paper examines 2022-23 academic recovery efforts across eight school districts, including tutoring, small group instruction, after-school, extended year, double-dose, digital learning, and expert teacher interventions. Across 22 math and reading interventions, most were delivered to fewer students and for less time than planned. Researchers found positive effects for one tutoring program on math scores and two tutoring programs on reading scores, ranging from 0.22 to 0.33 standard deviations. Each of these programs served a very small share of the district’s students and was unlikely to play a major role in district-wide academic recovery. Finally, we find that having an expert teacher with high evaluation scores as opposed to a non-expert teacher significantly improves student achievement by 0.06 standard deviations in math and 0.11 standard deviations in reading. While highlighting the promise of intensive academic interventions, key findings underscore the challenges districts face in scaling such interventions to match its recovery needs. The field needs better evidence regarding the successful implementation of large-scale interventions.

More than one million high school students enroll in some type of dual enrollment college coursework in partnership with a college or university every year. The benefits of participating in one of these programs have been well documented, but so too have the gaps in participation among Black and Hispanic students, English learners, students with disabilities, and other groups not well served in the high school to college transition. Furthermore, there is uneven access to well-taught dual enrollment coursework that is aligned with postsecondary academic and career pathways that high school students may want to pursue. With the expansion of dual enrollment programs in recent years, researchers have documented how college and K–12 practitioners are reforming dual enrollment to focus on broadening its benefits for all students. In this report, researchers provide research-based recommendations for states and systems to strengthen dual enrollment, including expanding access, strengthening on-ramps to postsecondary pathways, and building and sustaining strong partnerships. This report also provides six general mechanisms to implement these recommendations, including legislation, funding, regulation, guidance, engagement, and resources. Key recommendations include setting statewide goals and measure progress, rethinking eligibility requirements, and reducing tuition and non-tuition costs to students and families through state funding.

Contracted disability examinations are a critical source of information that the U.S. Department of Veterans Benefits Administration often uses to decide eligibility and the level of benefits for veterans with service-connected disabilities. When a veteran files a claim for disability compensation, the department may request medical examinations to gather evidence about a veteran’s disabilities. As of July 2024, 93% of these exams are conducted by contractors. The department uses several techniques to oversee the quality of contracted disability examinations. The department’s oversight techniques for contracted exam quality are intended to prevent, detect, and correct exam errors. This study examines the extent to which the department manages the quality of contracted disability exams. The study also provides a preliminary analysis of selected stakeholders’ views on the department’s oversight of exam quality. The GAO found that one of the techniques for error correction does not have clear and complete procedures. Specifically, the department provides contractors with information on the types of exams with the most errors, and contractors use this information to create action plans intended to improve the quality of these exams. The department developed written procedures for reviewing these quality action plans; however, the GAO found that these procedures do not specify how the department will 1) verify that contractors complete the corrective actions in their plans; or 2) assess whether these actions improve exam quality over time. The GAO provides several recommendations to improve the clarity and completeness of its procedures for reviewing contractors, including routinely verifying that contractors complete the corrective actions in their quality action plans and determining the extent to which these actions help improve exam quality.

Homeownership can help households accumulate wealth and promote financial stability, particularly amid elevated inflation. But climate-fueled extreme weather events threaten to undermine households’ ability to maintain homeownership. Disasters such as flooding, tornadoes, and wildfires can severely damage a property, reduce its value, and increase the likelihood of mortgage default. Homeowner’s insurance provides financial protection against physical damage to a property. As a result, it can help households and the property they own recover from catastrophic weather events. Given rising climate risk, the unpredictability of future warming, inflation, skyrocketing construction costs, and state rules about insurers’ ability to raise premiums, private-sector providers of homeowner’s insurance are raising premiums and suspending cover in some areas, notably California and Florida. Higher insurance premiums contribute to growing affordability concerns because of high home prices and interest rates. This study provides an overview of the median annual homeowner’s insurance premium by income group and neighborhood climate risk and the share of households that report zero homeowner’s insurance by income and neighborhood climate risk by income group and neighborhood climate risk. The study found that lower-income homeowners (i.e., those whose household incomes are up to 200% of the federal poverty level) appear to be the most vulnerable and pay higher insurance rates compared to higher-income homeowners in 2021. In addition, the overview of homeowner’s insurance confirms the growing financial vulnerability emerging for families in the event of a climate catastrophe.

Electricity systems worldwide are under pressure due to aging infrastructure, rising demand for electricity, and the need to decarbonize energy supplies at pace. Artificial intelligence (AI) applications have the potential to help address these pressures and increase overall energy security. For example, AI applications can reduce peak demand through demand response, improve the efficiency of wind farms, and facilitate the integration of large numbers of electric vehicles into the power grid. However, the widespread deployment of AI applications could also come with heightened cybersecurity risks, the risk of unexplained or unexpected actions, or supplier dependency and vendor lock-in. The speed at which AI is developing means many of these opportunities and risks are not yet well understood. The study aims to provide insight into the state of the art of AI applications for the power grid and the associated risks and opportunities. Researchers conducted a literature review to find examples of relevant AI applications to determine the state of the art of these applications in the United States, the European Union, China, and the U.K. Researchers also used a Python-based power system model called PyPSA to explore how different AI applications can improve energy security. To map the risks, researchers created a risk taxonomy and invited external stakeholders from policymaking and research organizations to participate in a back-casting exercise to discuss the key enablers that would contribute to certain positive and negative outcomes. Key findings include the effectiveness of AI-driven load shifting in strengthening energy security, an increase in AI development and deployment related to energy applications, and several risks associated with deploying AI applications in the electricity system.

This report presents 2022 fetal mortality data by maternal race and Hispanic origin, age, tobacco use during pregnancy, and state of residence, as well as by plurality, sex, gestational age, birth weight, and selected causes of death. Trends in fetal mortality are also examined. A total of 20,202 fetal deaths at 20 weeks of gestation or more were reported in the United States in 2022. The 2022 U.S. fetal mortality rate was 5.48 fetal deaths at 20 weeks of gestation or more per 1,000 live births and fetal deaths, 4% lower than in 2021 (5.73) and a new historic low for the United States. The fetal mortality rate in 2022 for deaths occurring at 20–27 weeks of gestation was 2.79, a 5% decline from 2021 (2.95). For deaths occurring at 28 weeks of gestation or more, the rate in 2022 was 2.71, a 3% decline from 2021 (2.80). In 2022, the fetal mortality rate was highest for Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander non-Hispanic (10.36) and Black non-Hispanic (10.05) females and lowest for Asian non-Hispanic females (3.70). Fetal mortality rates were highest for women ages 40 and older, for women who smoked during pregnancy, and for women with multiple gestation pregnancies. Five selected causes (1. Fetal death of unspecified cause; 2. Fetus affected by complications of placenta, cord, and membranes; 3. Fetus affected by maternal complications of pregnancy; 4. Fetus affected by maternal conditions that may be unrelated to present pregnancy; and 5. Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities) accounted for 90.0% of fetal deaths in the 43-state and District of Columbia reporting area.

In 2022, 84.2 million adults and 6.1 million adolescents were diagnosed with a mental health disorder or substance use disorder. Health centers are community-based clinics that offer primary care to underserved communities. In 2022, health centers offered mental health disorder services to 2.7 million patients and substance use disorder services to about 299,000 patients. This report presents rates for these disorders by age group for visits to health centers by people age 12 and older, based on the 2022 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey - Health Center Component. In 2022, the health center visit rate for people age 12 and older with an mental health disorder only was 50.5 visits per 1,000 people. This was higher than rates for people with a substance use disorder only (10.3 visits) and both a mental health disorder and substance use disorder (12.8). Similar patterns were observed across all age groups, with rates for mental health disorders only higher than rates for substance use disorders only and both mental health disorder and substance use disorder. Rates for adolescents ages 12–17 with a substance use disorder only (0.6) and with both an mental health disorder and substance use disorder (1.1) were the lowest. Rates for adults ages 26–49 (13.3) and 50 and older (11.9) with a substance use disorder only were higher than rates for young adults ages 18–25. Similarly, rates for adults ages 26–49 (19.0) and 50 and older (12.0) with both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder were higher than rates for young adults ages 18–25. Rates for mental health disorders only were not significantly different across age groups.

Many states continued to see improvements in health insurance coverage rates for all age groups between 2019 and 2023, according to the American Community Survey. Uninsured rates dropped in 17 states for children, 42 states for working-age adults, and in one state (Florida) for adults aged 65 and older from 2019 to 2023. However, fewer states saw drops in uninsured rates than from 2013 to 2019, when rates declined in 37 states for children, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for working-age adults, and 14 states for older adults. Some findings include that 1) the uninsured rate for children increased in six states: Alabama, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington; 2) Medicaid coverage for children declined in seven states: Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Texas and West Virginia. It increased in five: Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Wyoming; 3) uninsured rates for working-age adults declined in 14 states and increased in three: Connecticut, Iowa, and New Jersey; 4) Medicaid coverage for working-age adults increased in 11 states and decreased in four: Arkansas, Idaho, New Hampshire, and West Virginia; and 5) private coverage for adults 65 years and older declined in 24 states, driven by declines in direct-purchase coverage.