Editing Truancy (section)

==Punishments imposed==
[[File:Ralph Hedley The truant's log 1899.jpg|thumb|[[Ralph Hedley]]: ''The Truant's Log'', 1899]]

=== Denmark ===
In [[Denmark]], some welfare benefits{{Clarify|date=March 2012}} may be confiscated for a period if the child does not attend school. However, not all cities use this approach to keep the children in school.<ref>[http://www.dr.dk/Regioner/Kbh/Nyheder/Hovedstadsomraadet/2007/10/25/072056.htm Det virker at inddrage børnechecken] (It works confiscating the child benefit check), by Anette Sørensen, Denmark's Radio, October 25, 2008</ref> Most cities{{Clarify|date=March 2012}} watch for families who have not returned their children to school after the summer vacation because some groups [[exile]]d their children to their ethnic home countries for [[behavior modification]]. In the city of [[Aarhus]], 155 children had not attended one week after school started.<ref>[http://www.aarhus.dk/default.asp?Id=359&LcId=da&AjrDcmntId=3046&AjrThmId=0&AjrThmPg=0 155 elever er ikke mødt op] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107064059/http://www.aarhus.dk/default.asp?Id=359&LcId=da&AjrDcmntId=3046&AjrThmId=0&AjrThmPg=0 |date=2009-01-07 }} (155 children have not started), by Majken Klintø, aarhus.dk, August 26, 2008</ref> In April 2009, research among 4,000 students showed that more than one in three had been absent during the past 14 days.<ref>[http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Indland/2009/04/30/043947.htm "Børn pjækker mere fra skole"], DR News, April 30, 2009</ref>

=== Finland ===
In [[Finland]], truant pupils are usually punished with [[School discipline|detention]] in comprehensive schools. The police are not involved in truancy control, but teachers monitor the school and its surrounding area to avoid unauthorized absences. If a pupil is absent for a long period of time, the parents may be fined.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/%C3%84idille+sakkoja+lasten+oppivelvollisuuden+laiminly%C3%B6misest%C3%A4/1135249315433|title=Äidille sakkoja lasten oppivelvollisuuden laiminlyömisestä – HS.fi – Kotimaa|access-date=1 February 2011|language=fi|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923210550/http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/%C3%84idille+sakkoja+lasten+oppivelvollisuuden+laiminly%C3%B6misest%C3%A4/1135249315433|archive-date=23 September 2009}}</ref> The child will not be escorted to school, but the government may remove the child from the household if truancy continues.

=== Germany ===
In [[Germany]], truancy is prohibited until the age of 18, and parents can be fined up to 1,250 euros or jailed if their child misses too much school.<ref name=":0">OLG Hamm, Beschluss vom 21. Dezember 2012, Az.: II-2 UF 181/11</ref> The students themselves can also be imprisoned for truancy from age 14 to 18, because the criminal responsibility age is 14 in Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Minimum Ages of Criminal Responsibility in Europe |url=https://archive.crin.org/en/home/ages/europe.html |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=archive.crin.org |language=en}}</ref> The students older than 18 cannot be held criminally liable for truancy.<ref name=":0" /> The parents of a child absent from school without a legitimate excuse are notified by the school. If the parents refuse to send their child to school or are unable to control their child, local child services or social services officers may request the police to escort the child to school, and in extreme cases may petition a court to partially or completely remove child custody from the parents.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

=== Israel ===
In [[Israel]], Attendance Officers (AO) are key figures helping students cope with difficulties of adjustment in school, which can cause them to drop out of the education system altogether. AOs are employed by the local authority, as authorized by the [[Ministry of Education (Israel)|Minister of Education]], and their role is to ensure that the Compulsory Education Law is implemented in educational institutions for all 15 years of [[Compulsory education|compulsory schooling]].  In recent years, efforts have been made to professionalize and structure the role of attendance officer.  A 2016 study of the AO role found there had been a change in the focus of the AOs' work – from concentrating on students who do not regularly attend an educational framework to intervention at an earlier stage with students who are still in a formal educational framework, but are experiencing adjustment difficulties. The data over the period from 2006 to 2016 indicated a decline in the relative percentage of students not in formal education ([[Dropping out|dropouts]]) out of all students in the care of AOs, and that most of those in the care of an AO did attend a formal framework.  At the end of the period of AO intervention, 38% of the students who were not in an educational framework when the AO began work with them had returned to a formal framework. Among those who had been in a framework at the start of work but were contending with various difficulties, almost 90% were still in the framework at the end of the intervention.  Finally, the data noted the multiple difficulties facing AOs working with the [[Negev Bedouin|Bedouin]] population and with students in East Jerusalem, as well as the limited resources available to them.<ref>Ruth Baruj-Kovarsky, Viacheslav Konstantinov, and Dalia Ben-Rabi.  ''[https://brookdale.jdc.org.il/en/publication/attendance-officers-israel-analysis-data-decade-work-school-dropouts-disengaged-administrative-files-2005-2015/ Attendance Officers in Israel – Analysis of Data from a Decade of Work with School Dropouts and Disengaged Students (Administrative Files 2005–2015)]''. Jerusalem: Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute (2018).</ref>

=== Italy ===
In Italy, compulsory education starts at six years of age and finishes at 16, but truancy constitutes a crime only for the elementary-school level.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

=== Taiwan ===
Truancy is subject to an administrative fine, which may be continued until proper enrollment in the compulsory education.<ref>[https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawSearchContent.aspx?pcode=H0070002&norge=9 Article 9] of the Compulsory Education Act</ref>

=== United Kingdom ===
In [[England and Wales]], truancy is a criminal offense for parents if the child concerned is registered at school.<ref>S.7 Education act 1996</ref> Truancy laws do not apply to children educated at home or otherwise under Section 7 of the [[Education Act 1996]]. Since the passage of the [[Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000]], parents of persistent truants may be imprisoned for up to three months.<ref>[[Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000]], §72</ref><ref name="TruancyTimeline">{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7851787.stm|title=Truancy timeline: 1997–2009 |publisher=BBC News|date=11 February 2009}}</ref> In 2002, the first parent was imprisoned under this provision.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7880936.stm|title=Jailing parents: What happened next?|date=12 February 2009|publisher=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/3561655.stm|title=Truancy mother sent to jail again|publisher=BBC Newsdate|date=23 March 2004}}</ref>

Since 1998, a police officer of or above the rank of superintendent may direct that for a specified time in a specified area a police officer may remove a child believed to be absent from a school without authority to that school or to another designated place. However, this is neither a power of arrest nor a power to detain, and it does not make truancy a criminal offense.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ERORecords/HO/421/2/cdact/truancy.htm |title=Electronic Records Online |publisher=Nationalarchives.gov.uk |access-date=2012-01-21}}</ref> A warning is issued to parents following the first instance of truancy, but for subsequent events, the parents are assessed a fine of at least £50. Some charities have highlighted an increasing prevalence of truancy among impoverished girls during [[menstruation]], especially among girls who do not have easy access to sanitary products.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/17/girls-from-poorer-families-in-england-struggle-to-afford-sanitary-protection|title=Girls from poorer families in England struggle to afford sanitary protection|last=Marsh|first=Sarah|date=2017-03-17|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-01-30|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

=== United States ===
{{Mcn|section|date=August 2024}}

In the [[United States]], truancy regulations are generally enforced by school officials under the context of parental responsibility. New automated calling systems allow the automated notification of parents when a child is not marked present in the computer, and truancy records for many states are available for inspection online.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} In large schools where law enforcement officers are present, the fine for truancy can range from $250 to as much as $500. About 12,000 students were ticketed for truancy in 2008 in [[Los Angeles]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Ehrenreich |first=Barbara |author-link=Barbara Ehrenreich |date=8 August 2009 |title=Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09ehrenreich.html |department=Opinion |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=9 |access-date=1 February 2011}}</ref> Many states{{Clarify|date=March 2012}} provide for the appointment of local truancy officers who have the authority to arrest habitually truant youths and bring them to their parents or to the school that they are supposed to attend. Many states{{Clarify|date=February 2011}} also have the power to revoke a student's driver's license or permit. Where it exists, a school truancy officer is often concurrently a [[constable]] or [[sheriff]].

Children are required by [[Compulsory education#By country|law]] to remain in school until the age of 16, although some states{{cn|date=August 2024}} require schooling through age 18 unless an absence is formally excused by a school official or if the child has been [[Expulsion (education)|expelled]]. In the 1972 case of ''[[Wisconsin v. Yoder]]'', the Supreme Court determined that [[Amish]] children could not be placed under compulsory education laws past the eighth grade.

Children in [[private school]] or [[homeschooling]] are exempt from attending mandatory public schooling.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hslda.org/content/|title=HSLDA: Homeschooling Advocates since 1983 |publisher=Home School Legal Defense Association |language=en|access-date=2019-11-06}}</ref>