CURFEW Imagine a world where there is no standard state-set curfew on every single teenager. Doesn’t that sound like the world we live in? Even though we have a state curfew, barely anyone even acknowledges it. It’s not like you hear about crimes committed by teenagers every single night because they were out past their curfew. That’s because most of us have parents. And most of them care. The government, however, chooses to disregard the fact that we have parents/legal guardians, and that it’s their job to set such rules for us. Maybe that’s because we live in a very systematic universe, where everything runs on a system, program, or a machine. We think that if we didn’t have a rule or system in place for everything, there would be chaos. But haven’t you noticed that it’s often our rules that cause war? No one even believes in human power anymore. Everyone forgets that we actually have morals and a conscience. No, teenagers aren’t going to go out past their curfew for the sole purpose of damaging property or committing a crime. Because frankly, if …show more content…
they really want to do it, a curfew isn’t going to stop them, and not having one won’t encourage it either. Anyways, most of the crimes committed around that time are usually done by adults. So why not implement a curfew on adults too? Why do they get more freedom than teenagers knowing they commit most of the crimes? When a teenager gets a ticket for being out past their curfew, they can get a warning, detention, fines, community service, juvenile detention, or even their parents can be sentenced to serve jail time for their child’s irrational behavior.
Now, this can be classified as ‘prison pipelines’. Prison pipeline is the process in which a child is treated as a criminal, and getting more involved with juvenile and the police, that they slowly start becoming an actual criminal. They will tend to commit more serious crimes step-by-step. And the foundation for all their behavior would have started from a small act such as being out past curfew. Keep in mind, once a child has been involved with the police, court, or juvenile, it will stay on their permanent record which makes it harder for them to make it into a good college or to get a steady job. Is curfew violation really worth a child’s
future? Most adults have this idea of teenagers as if they were crazy hype rebels that break the rules whenever they’re left unattended. While in fact, most teens are too busy with school and extracurriculars or just simply too lazy and good to do anything that extreme. Of course, some are going to be rioters, but adults will always outnumber teens when it comes to ‘who’s done the most crime”. Putting a curfew in place certainly isn’t going to decrease crime, especially since adults are usually the ones who act out. But did we forget about the teenagers that have jobs late at night or early in the morning? Most teenagers work to help out their families, or to prepare for college. Setting the curfew is only restricting those teens from doing something that they desperately need. How do you explain the fact that you’re limiting teenagers from doing something healthy that benefits them, their future, and their families? This is one of the many flaws in our system, and it’s full of contradictions. You say you want children to succeed and have bright futures, but you don’t give them the capabilities to.
Cities that have curfew law experience fewer teens’ crimes and victimization. When Lake County had an issue with teens’ crimes, the police department forced curfews for teens under 16 years old (Courtney). As a result, Lake County Sheriff reported that the number of teen crimes decreased (Courtney). Moreover, a study research for 54 U.S cities with 180,000 or more residents has been done by the University of California shows that youth arrests dropped by 10 percent.
What did he do your honor? I know he was out with his friends late at night, but he would never commit a crime like this. This is how many American parents explain their children to the judge. When a mother can’t face the fact that her child committed a conspicuous crime, she will start to express her personal emotions. In the judicial system emotions get you nowhere, if your son/daughter were where they were supposed to be they wouldn’t have encountered this situation. This is the problem that no curfew conflicts on the public society. I believe if you are a minor you should have curfew due to all of the obstacles man faces every day, don’t matter how hard you try you cannot leap over every obstacle without encountering it.
Wagner also points out that curfews are ineffective. Statistics show that more juvenile crimes actually occur during times not under the city’s curfew (Youth Today). Espejo reports that, “According to the FBI, ‘Youth between the ages of 12 and 17 are most at risk of committing violent acts and being victims between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.” These are times outside the range of curfew laws (23). According to McKinny, a curfew’s purpose is to protect youth from crime (Time.com). The times of frequent youth criminal activities do not match up with the times of curfew ordinances, thus proving that the curfews are ineffective in reducing juvenile crime.
They open up the doors to a new discussion that explores the idea of not punishments for crimes they commit, but preventing them before they take place. Staying after school, involved in productive activities seems to help students stay out of trouble. Curfews are imposed in some states, preventing juveniles from being out past a certain time until a time early the next day. These curfews are said to be in place in order to prevent crimes, but there are no statistics to back this up, as there are for the crime rate dropping with kids staying after school. Regardless, these are matters of precaution taken in order to attempt to prevent crimes from happening at the times in which they’d be anticipated to. If things are in place in order to prevent juveniles from committing crimes, the crime rate will drop, and many people will be saved from entering a world unknown to the world that is prison. Stopping juveniles from committing crimes would maybe them cause adults to not commit crimes as well, since in essence, these juveniles will indeed one day be adults. By implementing laws, states and law makers understand that there will always be people that don’t follow them. By stating programs, allowing juveniles a place to reconcile with small mistakes they make, or creating a safe-place where they can seek help from
Transitioning from being a child to an adult brings challenges that some handle well and others have considerable trouble with. The amount of child delinquents between the ages of 7 and 12 inside the system has jumped 33 percent within a ten-year period. This information raises red flags and sets of alarms inside the juvenile system because younger offenders of serious crimes are more likely to repeat their offenses. The likelihood of a child delinquent between the ages of 7 and 12 to become a serious offender is two to three times higher than delinquents in their teens (Flores, Child Delinquency, 2003). Studies addressing school influences on antisocial behavior have consistently shown that poor academic performance is directly correlated with child behavior issues and to the onset of serious delinquency (Brewer et al., 1995; Maguin and Loeber, 1996).
Jason Tashea, writer for The Baltimore Sun states, “Youth delinquency primarily occurs afterschool and not during curfew hours” (1). This started a fierce debate in Baltimore, as Tashea points out,
Strict rules create rebellious teens. Many people think that curfews are a fundamental way to keeping teens out of trouble, but this is not the case. Curfews are neither applicable, justified, nor are they a way to diminish criminal activities committed by adolescents. Curfews are ultimately useless because there are too many reasons that contradict why a curfew would work.
Fried, Carrie S. “Juvenile Curfew: Are They An Effective And Constitutional Means of Combating Juvenile Violence?” Behavioral Sciences & The Law 19.1 (2001): 127-141. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
Curfews are here to stop teenagers from roaming the streets at night and causing trouble. In consideration of having a curfew for teenagers, the crime rate has greatly decreased. Many tests and studies have confirmed that curfews do keep teenagers out of trouble. Curfews have helped keep many of the streets safe and free of crime in various cities around the world, even cities in Michigan.
Weigel, Margaret. "Impact of Juvenile Curfew Laws on Arrest of Youth and Adults." 29 November 2011. Journalist's Resource. 7 May 2014 .
How can a curfew keep my young teenager from doing illegal activities? Having a curfew provides teens with a limited amount of time to commit any criminal offenses.
In today’s society, some parents create curfews for their children while others allow their children to create their own curfews. Numerous people argue that setting curfews for teenagers help them refrain from taking part in mischief and help them to develop into superior adults. The remaining group of people state that curfews would make teenagers rebel. Teenage curfews produce many different positive and negative views in parents and teenagers. Different opinions on curfews are expressed through parents, teenagers, and mayors; and there are numerous reasons for people not supporting curfews.
Not only can they get into trouble, but they can also run into trouble. High Schooler’s are easy targets for trouble, plain and simple. If the police have heard of a crime committed and it is late at night and they see a group of High Schoolers they will question you and maybe even bring you to the station. In 1997 9 out of 10 cities said that curfews are a good use of police officers time and 88 % observed that enforcing curfews made their streets safer. If curfews can be inflicted and put into play, students may have much more opportunities to succeed and be better than the people before them. In another example if students are home by curfew there is no reason for trouble. This keeps them safe and it keeps their friends safe.
Juvenile delinquency is one of the major social issues in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is when “a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Merriam-webster.com). Although we have one justice system in America, the juvenile system differs from the adult juvenile system. Most juvenile delinquents range from as low as the age of seven to the age of seventeen. Once the delinquent or anyone turns the age of eighteen, they are considered an adult. Therefore, they are tried as an adult, in the justice system. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. In addition, there are a variety of effects that juvenile justice systems can either bad effects or good effects. Finally there are many different solutions that can reduce juvenile delinquency. As a result, juvenile delinquency is a major issue and the likeliness of it can be reduced. In order to reduce juvenile delinquency there has to be an understanding of the causes and the effects.
According to McClain, Kansas City police and officials implemented a curfew for minors. This curfew restricts teenagers the rights that they’re are able to take part in. The curfew refuses teens the right to dine, watch movies, talk with friend, or walk around the plaza after 9 p.m. The curfew was implemented due to a shooting that occurred involving a number of teenagers. This article informs the reader that not only are teens having the freedoms that other people are able to enjoy taken away, but they are also being discriminated against because of their age. These restrictions are not only discriminative, but they’re unconstitutional. The 14th amendment to the constitution has a clause, called the Equal Protection Clause. The Equal Protection Clause states, “The constitutional guarantee that no person or class of persons shall be denied the same protection of the laws that is enjoyed by other persons or other classes in like circumstances in their lives, liberty, property, and pursuit of happiness” (thefreedictionary.com). The Equal Protection Clause also prevents a class of people from feeling inferior. This clause could easily be extended to teens as well because they are viewed as intellectually inferior by majority class. Adolescents are thought to be incapable of making an appropriate solution to a situation. This misconception has been formed due to parents and elderly people forcing children to follow strict rules and do as the parent or elderly person says; this prevents the child from creating their own solution to problems and causes the child to lack problem solving skill. The lack of problems solving skill could affect them more substantially in life, due to them no longer being minors and having their punishment more severe. Teens are widely regarded as trouble-makers, but they only cause trouble in their pursuit to experience life. Not only do curfews force children to