Impact
The truant student develops weak bonds to the school and its norms and values. Chronic absenteeism, leading to poor academic performance and limited peer bonding, yields low educational aspirations and limited motivation. This places students at risk for behavior problems and to the onset of delinquency.
Truancy is the first step toward –and a predictor of– delinquency and criminal behavior. [U.S. Department of Justice]. Below are some data tidbits:
- 80-89% of prison inmates report they were truants.
- Since 1993, the number of child delinquents processed in court increased 33 percent.
- In 1997, the courts across the nation processed over 180,000 juvenile cases.
- Truant students with the highest truancy rates are at high risk of dropping out.
- High school dropouts are two and a half times more likely to be on welfare (than graduates).
Truancy is potentially expensive. From alternative programs to court intervention, the ultimate cost to society is alarming, and we all pays the price.
- The cost* to a state of students dropping out of high school is $200,000 per student.
- A typical delinquency-criminal career spanning the juvenile and adult years costs society $1.3-1.5 million per criminal.
*Cost is based on the difference in public spending on soclal prorams and incarceration costs, plus the difference in income taxes collected over a lifetime, for an individual who drops out of high school compared to one who graduates.
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Truancy in Hawaii and Beyond
URL: www.hawaii.edu/truancy
College of Education
University of Hawaii
Copyright © 2006. All rights reserved.