A truant is a student who stays away from school without permission or an explanation. Truancy laws are designed to encourage school attendance by creating simple court procedures through which children are held accountable for excessive school absences. The courts focus on the best interest of the child when addressing the truant conduct of a child.

Truant conduct is usually prosecuted or addressed as a civil (noncriminal) matter, and the definition and procedures for dealing with truancy are usually located in a state's statutes—often in the family code or education code.

In Massachusetts, truancy laws are established to ensure that children attend school regularly. Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 76, Section 1, all children between the ages of 6 and 16 are required to attend school. A student who has unexcused absences from school for more than seven day sessions or fourteen half-day sessions in any period of six months is considered a truant. When a student is habitually truant, the school is required to make efforts to address the issue, which may include meeting with the parents or guardians and developing an action plan to improve attendance. If these measures fail, the school may file a Child Requiring Assistance (CRA) application with the Juvenile Court. Under this process, the court focuses on the best interest of the child and may provide services or interventions to address the underlying causes of truancy. The goal is to help the child return to school and not to punish them. The proceedings are civil rather than criminal, and the emphasis is on providing support and resources to the child and family to resolve attendance issues.