FOR IMMEIDATE RELEASE

December 11, 2014

CONTACT
Jennifer Meinig
(304) 389-6775

The ACLU of West Virginia Urges Governor Tomblin and

Legislature to Enact Reforms to Keep
Truant Children Out of Juvenile Court
CHARLESTON, WV Today, the West Virginia Intergovernmental Task Force on Juvenile Justice issued a report and recommendations to reform the states juvenile justice system. Upon review, the
American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU of WV) finds that further improvements to the
system can be made by amending the current truancy laws to allow for 10 days of unexcused absences
rather than only five. In addition, the truancy law should require schools to employ a range of schoolbased and community interventions to improve school attendance before referring a student to juvenile
court.
Although the number of children referred to juvenile court for delinquent offenses has actually declined,
there has been a steep increase in juvenile court referrals for status offenses acts that would not be
a crime if committed by an adult. From 2002-2012, the number of children referred to court for status
offenses, particularly truancy, climbed by 124 percent, and now account for 40 percent of all juvenile
court referrals.
Right now, West Virginia is experiencing a crisis in the number of children referred to juvenile court as
a result of missing school. Sending kids to court for truancy hurts their chances of finishing school and
becoming productive adults. says Jennifer Meinig, Executive Director of the ACLU of WV. While the
recommendations by the Task Force to limit placement of first-time status offenses and misdemeanors
is a step in the right direction, we also need to keep these kids out of juvenile court altogether. We propose that the state amend the current truancy law back to what it was before 2010, in which a student
can have up to 10 unexcused absences before triggering a court referral.
In 2010, West Virginia enacted a law revising the definition of truancy from 10 unexcused absences to
five unexcused absences. Under this new definition, nearly one in three students in West Virginia is truant from school. The current law allows schools to refer children to court after 5 unexcused absences
and also allows judges to fine or jail parents who permit their children to miss 5 days of school.
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