Truancy,Schooling and Juvenile Justice: “She Says She Hates School”

Abstract

In January 1988 truancy was removed as a welfare offence in the State of New South Wales. Although not yet proclaimed, truancy has just been reinstituted as an offence in New South Wales under P 5 of the Education Reform Act 1990. Thus arguments about the social effects of criminalising truancy are urgent and necessary. Using a case history methodology, this article maps the relations between female truants, school authorities and juvenile justice agencies which arise from the criminalisation of truancy. I then attempt to analyse the effects of such disciplinary processes, not only on the young people so affected, but also on their families and communities. I argue that court action for truancy has its most disproportionate and detrimental impact precisely on those students already most disadvantaged by the schooling system: namely on students from Aboriginal communities and housing commission areas.