Skipping school is considered what type of offense?

Skipping school is considered what type of offense?

• A. Delinquency
• B. Status offense
• C. Crime
• D. Misdemeanor

Answer: (B)

Skipping school is a status offense. That means the act is illegal specifically because the person is a minor; it wouldn’t be a crime for an adult. Truancy, the act of skipping school, triggers juvenile-justice processes as a matter of a student’s status, not because it would violate criminal law if an adult did it. The other labels describe acts that are illegal under general criminal law or would be crimes regardless of age (crime or misdemeanor) or acts that would be considered a delinquent act if charged like an adult, which isn’t the standard way truancy is categorized.

Skipping school is a status offense. That means the act is illegal specifically because the person is a minor; it wouldn’t be a crime for an adult. Truancy, the act of skipping school, triggers juvenile-justice processes as a matter of a student’s status, not because it would violate criminal law if an adult did it. The other labels describe acts that are illegal under general criminal law or would be crimes regardless of age (crime or misdemeanor) or acts that would be considered a delinquent act if charged like an adult, which isn’t the standard way truancy is categorized.