Dallas County truancy courts doing vast volume, serve as cash cow, lawuit alleged

"Texas processes more truancy cases through its court systems than all other states combined," according to a complaint (pdf) filed last week with the US Justice Department alleging over- and misuse of Dallas County truancy courts. According to the lawsuit, "The very high volume of juvenile cases heard by municipal and justice courts in Texas has led some to refer to them as the 'shadow juvenile justice system.'" "The volume of juvenile cases filed in municipal and justice courts dwarfs that of the state's juvenile courts."

The numbers back that assertion up: In FY 2012, there were 113,369 total cases filed against Texas students for failure to attend school. Almost none (455 total) were handled through traditional juvenile courts: 76,878 were filed in municipal or justice courts - 15% of those through municipal courts and the rest through county justices of the peace. By contrast, 36,036 truancy cases were filed in four Dallas County truancy courts during the same year. That's an enormous number. Much larger Harris County saw just 12,723 truancy cases filed in FY 2012.

One element I hadn't understood is the extent to which truancy cases have been automated, at least in Big D. There are four school districts in Dallas County and in each of them, "Cases are 'e-filed' by schools with students' attendance records triggering a system that electronically 'pushes' cases to the courts once they have reached the designated filing date - leaving probable cause determination to a computer," the complaint alleges. What's more, alleged the complaint, "Children are routinely criminalized for behavior as innocuous as being tardy to class." And once a youngster has racked up a bunch of truancy tickets, "Youth may be jailed once they turn 17 if they have not paid their fines and costs in full."

Dallas County has full-time truancy courts funded entirely from fines and fees from defendants - in other words, they operate on an eat-what-you-kill basis that gives them an incentive to maximize truancy cases, or at least ensure their numbers don't decline so that revenues remain steady. That creates perverse incentives, alleged the lawsuit, and IMO it's hard to disagree.

For those interested in more details (and Grits found it a fascinating read), see the 59-page civil complaint (pdf) filed by Texas Appleseed , Disability Rights Texas and the National Center for Youth Law. This should be interesting litigation: Lots of important, long-neglected issues are being raised that one seldom sees publicly acknowledged, much less comprehensively vetted.

Via Think Progress.