Term Paper on Teen Truancy and American
Family
Truancy is a status crime. A status crime is an
act that is merely against the rule when it is performed by a juvenile. Smoking,
drinking, skipping school, running away, and not following the legal orders of
one’s parents are all status crimes. They are behaviors forbidden only to
adolescents, not to adults, because of the juvenile's status (Jean Sunde
Peterson, Pamela Espeland, 1993). Truancy is very frequently the first sign of
trouble in a young person’s life. A variety of study data over the past twenty
years have time and again shown that truancy heads dropping out of school,
criminal behavior, and drug abuse. It can be a predecessor to adult crime.
Parental ignore is a common reason of truancy. Children are kept at home to work
or to look after. There may be no accountable adult at home to see that they get
up and get off to school. Some kids stay home for the reason that they are
afraid to go to school. Whatever the cause may be, it is hardly ever due to
teenage high jinks. In the 1990s, truancy has become a serious trouble in many
communities international. The U.S. Department of Justice accounts that 80% of
those in jail were at one time truants. The percent of adolescent offenders who
started as truants is even higher, approaching 95 %(Kay Marie Porterfield,
1996).
The greater part of the states in the United States necessitates that students
attend school until at least the age of 16. All states have laws leading
required education, and noncompliance consequences in punishments for the
parents or guardian of the truant student. Apparently, the state's object is to
teach its young people so that they will become competent, employable citizens.
Even though fines and jail terms for parents are approved if truancy becomes
constant, most states offer for mediation as well as counseling to return the
student to school, and many are seeking optimistic inducements to unite with the
punishments. ...... ..... .....
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