JUVENILE DELINQUENCY It all starts with truancy. . .

It all started with a few skipped classes every now and then. When nobody noticed, it escalated to missing school for a day to more than once a week.

Soon, the frequent absenteeism resulted to failing grades. Mom and Dad got worried and started restricting house rules. The student retaliated by leaving home and quitting school. In less than a month, the minor is arrested for robbing a convenient store for booze and cash.

In a split second, a youth’s life is tainted with a permanent criminal record which forever traps him into the common and, at times, unfair stereotypes juvenile delinquents are known for.

The above scenario is truly every parent’s worst nightmare. But real incidents have confirmed that such unpleasant occurrences are not far off in the CNMI.

The state-run Division of Youth Services, an agency which renders services for troubled and distressed children, is witness to many of such cases in the community.

The division admitted that at first, it all starts with truancy and absenteeism. Sooner or later, kids lose control and resort to petty and eventually to more serious crimes.

Juvenile Corrections Unit Supervisor Sylvio Ada, Jr. said truancy is usually the starting point of graver crimes. Students who plunge into the habit of missing classes usually take it to the next level which could lead to further self-destruction.

The transition stage from childhood to and during adolescence is usually the most crucial of stages, he added.

“Kids belonging to the eleven through 13 age group tend to confront issues with truancy and skipping classes,” the DYS official said.

Eleven to 13 is the average age for junior high school students on the island.

Longer than it can remember, the youth services has kept a close watch on youths within this age bracket, having recorded a relatively outstanding number of juvenile delinquency cases on an annual basis.

Statistics show that there were 87 cases of burglary, theft, and robbery committed by youth offenders in 1999. The last quarter of 1998 also recorded some 25 theft, burglary, and robbery cases among juveniles.

Assault and battery by juveniles reached 23 cases last year. While 51 truancy cases were committed in the same year.

Most of these cases were reportedly committed by school students in the junior and high school level. DYS further disclosed that in most of these cases, youths do it in groups.

“They rarely do it by themselves,” said Mr. Ada.

Studies show that teens and even children form gangs to establish a sense of belonging.

According to the youth services, adolescents need a peer group that helps them separate further from parents, provides a sense of identity and allows them to experiment with roles, boundaries, and relationships.

Whether these groups encourage fun, creativity, positive self-esteem and usefulness to the community depends on exposure to positive influences, a sense of belonging and values including the belief that one can and should contribute to the larger community.

Preventive measures to keep children away from gangs, according to DYS, includes exercising genuine parent involvement, getting kids into sports and worthwhile productive activities within the community.

While DYS exists to provide such services, without support from the community and its leaders, problems of such nature will continue to persist. (MM)