Reply #13: Now, to be fair: [View All]

[Nevernose]

Truancy is a total obsession of mine. I've got several master's theses topics ready to go, in fact.

Did you know that in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for instance, when an effective truancy program involving normal law enforcement was instituted, the daytime burglary rate dropped by slightly more than 60 PERCENT?

(Normal law enforcement -- street cops -- isn't often used in larger districts, ironically those districts with more crime, because of manpower issues)

Think about: almost two/thirds of daytime burglary could be eliminated by making kids go to school.

And how was the cop supposed to know? You're the one who didn't have your ID with you. What was he supposed to do? And was it, ultimately, anything more than an inconvenience?

Find a juvenile DA and ask them the following questions: How many hard-core criminals do you see? The kind that are 17, ready for the adult system, and get caught with armed robbery, serious assault, or other really severe crimes? How many of their records begin with abuse/neglect as a young child, then move to truancy charges, and then move to more serious crimes? It's damn near all of them.

We've got to find these kids and get them the help and the skills they need as early as possible, and if the occasional kid on Spring Break who was out of town visiting his friend's grandparents is occasionally inconvenienced, well, then that's just life.