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Thousands of kids are arrested each year in Hawaii for cutting class, only to be thrown through the revolving doors of the juvenile justice system, officials say.

A dearth of diversion programs often results in the courts kicking the troubled youth back to families who have run out of ideas and patience, experts say.

The slap on the wrist inadvertently teaches the teens to overcome their fear of legal repercussions for truancy, and so the behavior continues. Educational opportunities are abandoned for a life of crime, only escalating when the kids become adults, officials say.

“We view truancy and runaway as a gateway crime,” state Executive Director David Hipp said. “If you’re not in school and get hungry, for instance, you’re likely to steal and it becomes a downward spiral.”

He is particularly concerned by Hawaii’s abnormally high number of status offenses — acts that would not be criminal if they were committed by an adult.

There were 78,709 status offense arrests from 2000 to 2010, with almost a quarter of those for truancy, and nearly two-thirds for running away from home, according to statistics.

Over the past decade, roughly half of all juvenile arrests were status offenses. Nationally, status offenses generally comprise about 10 percent of those arrests, Hipp said.

“The evidence is overwhelming that once you get into the system, the likelihood of recidivism increases and the chances of becoming a productive adult go way down,” he said.

Aside from the move to wrap services around the child, Hipp said truancy has to be dealt with early.

The Office of Youth Services is trying to push more front-end services, he said. If a child is not going to school, he said there’s a reason for that — often it’s family issues.

“If we can get in and help families, then we can prevent the rest,” Hipp said. “But we all — as a state, my office, the courts, everyone — could be doing a better job.”

Hipp says it will take better coordination, not the “silo approach” he has seen.

Several proposals were introduced this legislative session to deal with truancy, but most were killed at the committee level because of their costs. Still, some innovative plans have survived and officials say they hope other initiatives will be resurrected in the coming weeks.

Alternative Schools

Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro said juvenile crime is one of the biggest problems Hawaii faces, noting that it often starts with skipping class.

“I see a problem that’s not being addressed and it’s going to impact us in the future — big time,” he said.

His proposed solution involves doubling the number of alternative schools on Oahu and making better use of the youth detention center in Kapolei.

, which stalled in the Finance Committee last month, would have appropriated funds to the Department of Education for two new alternative schools — one in the Leeward district and one in Honolulu.

Based on the budget of an alternative school in Wahiawa, Kaneshiro told the Legislature it would cost $1.4 million to run the two new schools. He suggested the state use existing facilities, such as schools that may be closed due to consolidation.

The DOE, Judiciary and Office of Youth Services supported the bill, but it failed to move forward. Kaneshiro said he hopes lawmakers add it to the later this session.

Alternative schools would keep students in an educational environment instead of putting them in the juvenile justice system, he said. The kids aren’t afraid to go to family court, he added, which is where status offense cases are handled.

There were 1,091 petitions filed in family court for status offenses last year statewide, according to statistics compiled by the prosecutor’s office. On Oahu, Kaneshiro said truancy is particularly bad in Waikiki, Palolo and Kalihi.

Kaneshiro said at this time he can’t fully support programs like the , which is a movement to put kids in alternative programs instead of detaining them.

“I don’t disagree that you need to have alternative programs, but what alternative programs do you have?” he said. “The juveniles are arrested; they’re taken to family court; they’re placed into this program and taken back home to the families and again uncontrolled and they go and commit crimes again.

“Sending them back home is not acceptable because that is where the problem is to begin with,” he added.

While detention centers are generally reserved for youths who are a danger to the public, Kaneshiro said there has to be consequences. He said detention should be better utilized at least until there are better alternative programs in place.

The youth detention center that opened in Kapolei a few years ago has capacity for 63 kids, he said, but two-thirds of the facility is “useless” because most beds remain empty.

“You can go to Waikiki and see bands of juveniles running around,” he said, adding that some carry knives. “They’re stealing from the tourists and from the businesses. These juveniles are going to end up as adult offenders.”

Family court and the DOE need to step up, Kaneshiro said, noting that it’s odd it’s the prosecutor’s office asking for money for new alternative schools.

Steven Shiraki, DOE administrator for student support services, said resources are an issue. He said the department supports alternative schools as an option, but it’s a matter of how the Legislature prioritizes the state budget.

The DOE is working to develop an action plan to improve school attendance. The department supports working with the Office of Youth Services and community partners to address truancy, he said.

“It’s a critical focus we’re starting to move toward,” Shiraki said. “Arresting the youth doesn’t have the impact that we need it to have. That’s the whole focus behind the youth diversion process.”

But he said the big unknown is where the resources for alternative programs will come from.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s executive budget proposal trimmed millions of dollars off the DOE’s request. And the amended budget the House sent to the Senate earlier this month cut even more money from the DOE. On top of that, there’s serious concern that the federal sequestration process will result in more lost funding.

“You hit a point where realistically you cannot move forward anymore without the resources,” Shiraki said. “We have good people with good intent but even that’s not enough at a certain point.”

He said the DOE recognizes the need to give truant students the support they need to turn their lives around as opposed to arresting them.

“In society today, not every adolescent is going to perceive that school is important to them,” Shiraki said. “We have to convey to them that it really is vital to their future.”

The DOE tracks unexcused absences, which administrators use to reach out to students who miss a lot of days each year without a reason. Shiraki said the absences have remained fairly consistent over the years, rising in 2009 during the recession but decreasing recently as the economy has rebounded.

Community Truancy Boards

Another bill moving forward in the Legislature points at the increasing rate of kids cutting class as a reason to develop community truancy boards.

Five percent of students across the nation drop out of school each year, and most of these students begin as truants, says. In Hawaii, the average truancy rate in 2005-2006 was 1.7 percent, or 282 students. But the rate doubled to 2.4 percent the next year.

The bill proposes establishing a working group to study the methods to prevent or control truancy in elementary schools, including the creation of a community truancy board.

Rep. Cindy Evans introduced the legislation after learning her Big Island district has among the state’s highest rates of unexcused absences. Studying programs on the mainland, she came across the truancy board idea and believes it will be a model Hawaii could use to create a more localized approach.

Evans said addressing truancy early — at the elementary level — is key along with pulling together a variety of resources.

The working group, to be convened by Education Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, is to consist of representatives from the Judiciary, educators, law enforcement, youth service providers, parent groups and any others deemed appropriate. The group would evaluate truancy boards in other states and come up with a plan for how it would work in Hawaii.

“It takes a community to raise a child,” Evans said.

After clearing the House, HB 190 now rests in the hands of Senate Education Chair Jill Tokuda, who has yet to schedule a hearing for it.

Evans said arresting kids for truancy doesn’t work, and in some cases the punishment becomes a badge of honor. And she said if parents can’t get their kids to go to class, why would they show up for community service?

“They don’t know what they want and they kind of drift and get themselves in trouble,” she said.

The DOE supports the bill. Shiraki said the department recognizes the need to partner with others to address truancy and believes truancy boards should be localized.

“Our communities are much too diverse to develop it like a state council,” he said.

Rep. Takashi Ohno said he supports the bill because there is no doubt in his mind that truancy is an early indicator of students heading down a bad path, be it dropping out or doing drugs.

Assessment Centers

Another alternative to arresting truant kids is creating assessment centers on each island, Hipp said.

These would be places where kids would be assessed and given the services and counseling they need instead of processed through the juvenile justice system. Police, for instance, could drop off kids at these centers after they pick them up for skipping class.

Abercrombie’s budget proposed establishing a at a cost of $800,000.

“By focusing on the child and providing family support and nurturing programs on the front end, we can change the course they’re on and keep our youth safe from entering the criminal justice system,” Louise Kim McCoy, the governor’s spokeswoman, said in an email.

The House nixed the request, but noted that a pilot center is in development on the Big Island.

Safe Places

Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland said assessment centers would help bring down the arrest rate for truancy. But short of that, she also supports a bill to create a network of safe places for kids, which could help ensure more students attend class while reaping other benefits.

would create a two-year pilot program, which the Office of Youth Services would coordinate, to create a network of safe places where kids could obtain advice and get services.

The bill says kids run away every year from homes where abuse is commonplace and schools where intolerable bullying becomes a barrier to educational achievement. But they often have nowhere to go.

The legislation notes that children participating in a youth summit in October identified the need for safe places as one of their highest priorities.

The bill cleared the Senate earlier this month is now in the House Finance Committee.