Million Runaways - Communal Living as the Answer

• NCJ Number: 72065
• Author(s): S L Mondschein
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 92 pages
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. California State University, Long Beach - Masters Thesis

Annotation

This study discusses the reasons young people run away from home and proposes a self-sufficient community as an alternative to street life, based on Israeli and Swedish communes.

Abstract

Statistics indicate that approximately a million juveniles run away each year, that girl runaways outnumber boys, and that the average age was dropped to 11 and 12 years. Most runaways return home after a short time, but about one-fourth choose to be self-sufficient and may turn to petty crimes to survive. A review of U.S. literature on runaways demonstrates that knowledgeable people are now favoring the elimination of status offenders from police and court jurisdiction, and a brief survey of foreign studies, indicates that running away is not considered a crime in other nations. In interviews with 250 high school students conducted between 1974 and 1976, the principal reasons cited for running away were constant conflict with parents and a yearning for independence away from parental protectiveness. The Swedish and Israeli systems for handling runaways are described, based on research, personal observations, and interviews with officials. In Sweden, most juvenile cases are handled by the social welfare department, and communes provide shelter for young people seeking to live apart from their parents. Financial aid is available if the juvenile continues to attend school. The kibbutzim in Israel are now being used by young people as havens where they may survive without their families and have been tacitly accepted by legal authorities as an alternative disposition for the increasing number of runaways. Running away should be eliminated as a juvenile offense in the United States, and a self-sufficient community established to provide runaways with food, shelter, and the opportunities to make decisions on their own. A model, tentatively named the House of Peace, is proposed. The few shelters and crisis hotlines for runaways do not provide any long-term answers to a growing problem. A list of 127 references is included.