Chronic absenteeism from school is a powerful predictor of juvenile delinquent behavior and future gang membership. A youth is three times more likely to join a gang when the youth has low school attachment, low academic achievement or learning disabilities. Forty-four percent of juvenile crime takes place during school hours. Veteran gang prosecutors have stated that they have never seen a gang member who wasn’t truant first. Truancy affects our communities as a whole because: • Truancy is a precursor to gang membership. • Truancy is a stepping stone to delinquent and criminal activity. • Truancy impacts a child’s success at school. • Truancy leads to the victimization of youth. • Truancy has fiscal ramifications. The goal of the Truancy Prevention program is to keep children in school, not to prosecute parents. Prosecution will be a tool of last resort when the efforts made to educate and assist the family have failed
Posted on: Fri, 09 May 2014 11:08:07 +0000
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