NCJ Number
172254
Date Published
1997
Length
143 pages
Annotation
This report provides recent data on what is being done in Hawaii to address the problems associated with the management of juvenile status offenders (runaways, truants, curfew violators, and other minors beyond the control of their parents), as well as how the problems are viewed by those working with the problems.
Abstract
In Hawaii in recent years (1993-96), status offenses averaged approximately 9,000 arrests a year, constituting about 49-51 percent of all juvenile arrests in any given year. Unlike arrests for delinquencies, females are slightly disproportionately represented in status offense arrests, averaging 52 percent overall. The rate of status offense arrests is higher in Hawaii than in the United States as a whole, and the increase in the State's juvenile arrests in recent years is largely due to increases in status offenses, particularly runaways. More than 40 public and private agencies have a direct hand in identifying, providing services, and asserting jurisdiction over status offenders. Service provision for status offenders is essentially a process of moving cases from a pick-up or arrest by police or school, up to an assessment or decision and then to a service designed to render the minor more tractable, reduce the conflict with the family, and return the youth to the school. The most frequent problems mentioned by service providers were conflicts of the minor with the family, drug and alcohol use, school failure and absence, peer pressure, inactivity and lack of recreational facilities in some areas, teen pregnancy, and unmet psychological and emotional problems. The resource need cited most often was for increased services, specifically drug education and treatment, parent education and family counseling, temporary shelters, case management, and prevention services.