School truancy, particularly in primary and secondary schools, represents a serious issue deserving attention in communities across the nation. Most often treated as a management and disciplinary problem, serious attention to the underlying causes of truancy is usually given after the youths’ absence from school becomes frequent or chronic. Truant youth are at considerable risk of continuing their troubled behavior in school, experiencing psychosocial difficulties, and entering the juvenile justice system. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, truancy has not received significant attention by criminologists. This article addresses three questions: (a) What kinds of truancy programs exist in the United States? (b) What evidence do we have regarding their effectiveness? (c) What system and programmatic issues present obstacles to implementing successful truancy programs and need to be considered in establishing effective programs? Finally, we discuss efforts that are underway in Hillsborough County, Florida, in implementing an effective continuum of service for truant youth and their families.
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