THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 30, 1996 TAG: 9609300062
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 62 lines
They haven't killed parents or playmates, worshiped Satan, sold drugs or beaten teachers senseless.
Not yet, anyway.
But it is from the ranks of truants and runaways that dangerous and predatory delinquents most often emerge.
Though violent offenders account for only 3 percent of juvenile crime, they have captured the attention of politicians and the public in recent years. Little is known about the larger group of nonviolent juvenile offenders, or how to keep them from committing more serious crimes.
Even less is known about the 10 to 15 percent who are the least serious offenders, called status offenders because they have violated laws requiring them to attend school and live with parents or guardians.
To shed light on the subject, the Virginia Commission on Youth will ask the 1997 General Assembly to fund a study of these troubled youths and their families. Part of the study may focus on the state law requiring children to attend school until they turn 18.
``I think we need to know what is the state of the state,'' said Nancy Ross, executive director of the commission. ``Who's doing what with these kids; what are the frustrations and the barriers?''
Ross said she hopes to look at what other states are doing to respond to the problems of youths who are on the cusp of serious criminal activity.
This year, Ross and her staff did a cursory study of the problem across the state and found poor relationships between school systems and juvenile courts.
They learned there is no accurate estimate of how many runaways and truants are in Virginia; there is widespread confusion over which agencies should be doing what; and there is little agreement on what, if anything, should be done for families the problem children come from.
Juvenile offenders illustrate not only what has gone wrong with their families, Ross said, but also what has gone wrong with the system.
``They bump along and everybody gets frustrated,'' and they seem to get attention only when they commit a serious crime, she said.
Until then, they often get little or no help because courts, schools and other agencies have more pressing concerns.
``It seems to me we have just, sort of deliberately, let some children fall through the cracks,'' state Sen. Yvonne B. Miller, D-Norfolk, said after listening to a report from Ross at a recent commission meeting. ``I'm not sure we want to invest the state with young people who we have just sort of shunted from place to place over a number of years.''
Del. Jerrauld C. Jones, D-Norfolk, the commission chairman, said he would like to see the same attention paid to these delinquents as that devoted in recent years to violent young criminals.
Del. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, said the commission should look at mandatory school attendance. In one incident last year, four faculty members in a high school had to wrestle down a disruptive student in the cafeteria, he said.
``We don't pay teachers and administrators enough to do that,'' Deeds said. ``Should we require some of these kids to be in school, if they don't want to be there and they are hurting everybody else who does?''
But Miller said, ``I don't see pushing children out of school to make teachers comfortable.''
KEYWORDS: STUDY by CNB