This report presents statistics from the federal crime data sources National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), both of which measure the magnitude, nature, and impact of crime in the nation. The NCVS measures non-fatal criminal victimizations, reported and not reported to police. NIBRS collects data on fatal and nonfatal crime incidents reported by law enforcement agencies. Each have different purposes, use different methods, and measure a set of criminal offenses that are similar but not identical. Taken together, the information they produce provides a comprehensive understanding of crime in the United States. Key findings include that in 2024, the NCVS rate of violent crime excluding simple assault was 8.9 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older. The rate increased from 2015 (6.8 per 1,000) to 2018 (8.6 per 1,000), then declined from 2018 to 2021 (5.6 per 1,000) before rising to 9.8 per 1,000 in 2022. Since 2022, the rate has not changed significantly. During the 10-year period from 2015 to 2024, the NIBRS rate of violent crime fluctuated between 3.7 and 4.0 per 1,000 persons. During the same period, the rate of property crime declined 28%, from 24.9 per 1,000 persons to 17.9 per 1,000.

Judges play a key role in improving public safety not only through their adjudication, detention, and dispositional decisions but also by making research-based decisions about youth delinquency cases post-disposition. This bench card or resource guide for judges provides research-based guidance on how courts can appropriately measure and support youth’s progress post-disposition and hold youth, families, and public systems accountable for results. The guidance suggests judges focus more on service engagement and progress toward treatment goals tied to the youth’s individualized risk factors than on compliance with conditions, ensure case plans are tailored to the youth’s individualized risks and needs, impose the minimum level of intervention necessary to protect public safety and promote youth’s behavior change, use restorative practices such as victim mediation to repair harm caused to victims or communities, and request data on services, including use and outcomes, to ensure youth are not referred to ineffective providers or services.

The Supreme Court of Canada has repeatedly held that police sniffer dog searches are charter-compliant based on a low standard of reasonable suspicion because they are minimally intrusive, narrowly targeted, and can be highly accurate. Since the court last considered their constitutionality, however, extensive empirical research has fundamentally challenged assumptions about the reliability and accuracy of police sniffer dogs, as well as the harm to individuals subjected to these searches. Moreover, the phenomenon of handler cueing can operate to transmit a police officer’s unconscious biases—even those they would consciously reject—to their dogs, further reducing accuracy and leading to false alerts and unnecessary arrests. Because this evidence has fundamentally shifted the parameters of the debate, the underlying rationale for the use of the reasonable suspicion standard no longer holds. The reasonable and probable grounds standard, which has generally been applied to search and seizure powers, should therefore apply to sniffer dog searches to ensure that power is used in accordance with the charter. If that standard creates a “legislative gap” that makes sniffer dogs a less useful investigative tool, that is a matter that should be left to the Canadian Parliament, which is best positioned to create a proper statutory framework regulating the training, testing, and use of police sniffer dogs.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Full-Service Community Schools program aims to expand the reach of the community school approach by providing grants to school districts, community-based organizations, and universities.. Grantees aim to transform local schools into community schools—hubs that coordinate and integrate a wide range of services and supports to meet the unique needs of children, their families, and surrounding communities. This snapshot examines the challenges grantees and their partner schools reported facing in the first year of implementing their grants, and explores whether schools received technical assistance or support from grantees or other entities to help implement the community school approach. Researchers found that family engagement was the most frequently reported challenge grantees and their partner schools faced. Specifically, 36% of grantees reported that recruiting families to engage in decision-making activities was very challenging. In addition, over a third of partner schools reported that it was very challenging to recruit families as key partners (37%) and maintain their continued involvement in decision-making activities (38%). Other challenges grantees and partner schools reported experiencing include combining funding streams to support the community school approach, creating data systems to evaluate progress, recruiting students to serve in key roles, and creating a shared understanding of the community school approach. Lastly, most partner schools sought support in implementing the community school approach; however, fewer schools reported receiving technical assistance from grantees, though that assistance addressed a range of topics.

The adoption of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) — materials that have been rated as fully meeting the expectations of college- and career-ready standards — is a critical lever that districts and schools can use to support student learning. The uptake of these materials, especially in mathematics, has become increasingly common in U.S. schools. In this report, the authors use data from two panel surveys — one of public school districts and one of public school principals — administered during the 2024–2025 school year to explore the adoption of HQIM in math. Key findings include that large kindergarten through grade 12 districts tended to have faster adoption processes for math curricula than smaller districts. Principals cited the alignment of math curricula to state standards as their top consideration when making adoption decisions. Math curriculum adoption processes typically involved soliciting input from multiple stakeholder groups, but the final decision was most often made by district-level staff. HQIM were more often adopted when district-level staff had input or made the final decision; such materials were less likely to be adopted when school-level staff had greater input into the decision. Most principals purchased bundled professional learning offered by the curriculum vendor alongside math curriculum adoption.. According to principal interviews, bundled professional learning supported teachers to master the basics of their newly adopted curricula — such as navigating materials and understanding lesson structure — but was often insufficient for deeper instructional improvement.

In 2023, the Community College Research Center launched the Building a Sustainable Future initiative to examine how community colleges are recruiting and training students for the “green economy.” Researchers conducted a national landscape study that assessed the alignment between occupational demand (as measured by job postings) and community college credential production in particular commuting zones. This brief introduces an inventory of advanced infrastructure, energy, and agriculture (AIREA) jobs. This classification encompasses traditional green roles—such as wind turbine technicians, solar photovoltaic installers, and environmental engineering technicians—as well as adjacent occupations shaped by changing energy and infrastructure demands, such as electrical line workers, construction managers, and industrial machinery mechanics. Researchers found that community colleges are central to infrastructure and energy workforce preparation. Specifically, demand for AIREA jobs has risen steadily over the past decade, and the majority of AIREA job postings require less than a bachelor’s degree. Researchers also found that regional specialization drives workforce alignment. While national data show a general undersupply of AIREA credentials, some smaller commuting zones demonstrate strong alignment between graduate supply and local demand. These regions, which often produce a high number of AIREA graduates relative to their size, serve as successful models for aligning education with economic development.

Millions of homeowners defaulted on their mortgages in the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Institutional investors—companies that own many single-family rental homes—bought foreclosed homes in bulk and converted them into rental housing. This report reviews investor ownership trends for 2018–2024 in the Cincinnati, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Jacksonville, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Phoenix, Arizona; and Seattle, Washington areas. The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the share of homes owned by institutional investors varied in all six areas but remained relatively low overall. While these investors owned from 4% in Seattle to 22% in Jacksonville of single-family rental homes, they owned from less than 1% in Cincinnati and Seattle to 3% of all single-family homes. The largest year-to-year increases generally occurred during 2021–2023 and declined in 2024. In addition, institutional investors acquired homes from owner-occupants, non-owner-occupants (such as smaller investors), and new construction. For example, 35% of homes in Nashville were acquired from owner-occupants, and 15% were newly constructed as of 2024. Lastly, institutional investors also sold homes from their portfolios, including to owner-occupants. However, these sales represented a small share of the homes they owned, never exceeding 8% of institutional investors’ holdings in any year in any of the six selected metropolitan areas.

Currently, there is no line item in the U.S. national accounts that can be used to identify and measure the economic impact of artificial intelligence (AI). Therefore, researchers use tools to indirectly estimate the impact of AI using the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) industry accounts. This paper discusses important economic measurement challenges and makes recommendations for next steps. The researcher’s baseline model finds evidence that AI is productivity-enhancing and input-saving, and that AI is associated with a shift toward younger, relatively less educated workers. However, an alternative specification that makes different choices about the timing of the pervasiveness of AI yields less robust results, though it also suggests that AI is labor-saving. These findings highlight the importance of additional research and progress on economic measurement related to AI.

This brief uses data from the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) to estimate the share of adults experiencing household food insecurity in 2025. Researchers assess changes in household food insecurity among working-age adults (ages 18 to 64) between 2019 and 2025. Key findings include that in December 2025, nearly 1 in 4 (24%) adults ages 18 and older reported experiencing household food insecurity in the last 12 months; working-age adults were more than twice as likely to report food insecurity as those ages 65 and older, though previous studies have found there are wide disparities within the senior population; household food insecurity among working-age adults has been significantly elevated since 2023 and remained high in 2025 at 27%; and more than one-third (34%) of working-age adults with family incomes between 200% and 400% of federal poverty line reported food insecurity in 2025, up from 30% in 2024.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General is the designated federal agency that oversees State Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU). This annual report highlights case outcomes and other data trends related to investigations and prosecutions that the 53 MFCUs in the U.S. conducted. Key findings include that MFCUs recovered $4.64 for every dollar spent by states and the federal government; combined recoveries from criminal and civil cases totaled almost $2 billion for Fiscal Year 2025; and criminal recoveries from convictions totaled $1.3 billion and civil recoveries totaled $706 million. Researchers also found that pharmaceutical manufacturers accounted for more civil settlements and judgments than any other provider type. For Fiscal Year 2025, MFCUs reported 1,185 convictions, with 856 cases resulting in convictions for fraud and 329 convictions for patient abuse or neglect. Significantly more convictions for fraud involved personal care services attendants than any other provider type. The categories of nurse’s aide and nurse had the highest numbers of convictions for patient abuse or neglect. MFCU convictions led to the Office of Inspector General excluding 900 individuals and entities from participating in federal health care programs. Lastly, for Fiscal Year 2025, MFCUs reported receiving a total of 5,991 fraud referrals from managed care organizations.

Health insurance coverage improves access to and reduces the cost of medical care. Some studies have examined reasons for being uninsured. Most of these studies point to affordability as the major reason, with lack of knowledge and complexity of enrollment as other driving factors. However, there is a lack of information on how these reasons may have changed over the last 5 years in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and legislation designed to relieve some of the impact it may have had on uninsured people. This report found that among currently uninsured adults ages 18–64, those who reported only affordability as a reason for being uninsured decreased from 28.2% in 2019 to 20.9% in 2024. Similarly, those who reported affordability along with other additional reasons for being uninsured decreased from 45.7% in 2019 to 41.0% in 2024. In contrast, those who reported only reasons other than affordability increased from 21.7% in 2019 to 33.3% in 2024. Among the subset of currently uninsured adults ages 18–64 who reported only reasons other than affordability, those who indicated not needing or wanting coverage increased from 40.7% in 2019 to 44.1% in 2024. Similarly, those who indicated the sign-up process was too difficult increased from 17.2% in 2019 to 21.3% in 2024.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of adult death in the United States and costs more than $250 billion per year in healthcare services, medications, and lost productivity. Cholesterol is essential for normal body function, but abnormal blood cholesterol levels can lead to atherosclerosis, a major contributor to CVD. Detecting CVD risk factors like abnormal cholesterol in childhood and adolescence is important for preventing CVD later in life. Abnormal cholesterol measurements include high total cholesterol, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, known as good cholesterol), and high non-HDL-C (known as bad cholesterol that contributes to plaque buildup). Key findings of this report include that during August 2021–August 2023, 16.5% of children and adolescents had at least one abnormal cholesterol measure (high total cholesterol, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], or high non-HDL-C). The prevalence of at least one abnormal cholesterol measure was lower in girls (13.6%) than in boys (19.2%). The prevalence of at least one abnormal cholesterol measure was lower in children and adolescents with underweight or normal weight (10.3%) or overweight (11.5%) than in those with obesity (35.8%). The prevalence of at least one abnormal cholesterol measure in children and adolescents decreased between 2013–2014 and August 2021–August 2023.