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Reasons a Curfew is a Bad Idea
http://stopcurfew.com/reasons.htm
1. Curfews don’t reduce crime.
Every study done on the effect of curfews has shown that they do nothing to reduce crime. Nor do they protect young people from being the victims of crime. You only have to do a Google search for “crime curfew study” and you will see study after study showing curfews to be a failure by these standards. Yet, not one study shows curfews to be effective.
2. Curfew laws are often seen as hiding the government’s failure.
When introduced as a tool for reducing the crime rate, a curfew is not even a band-aid — it’s a smokescreen. Curfews make it appear as though local government is doing something about crime, without actually requiring them to address the real problems of poverty, racism, and poor police-community relations.
3. Curfew laws take resources away from fighting crime.
The vast majority of crimes committed in almost all communities are committed by adults, and crimes committed by adults are on average more severe than crimes committed by children. The more time and money the police spend enforcing curfews, the less resources they have to fight real crimes — violent crimes that directly threaten the safety of everyone in the community.
The Essay on The Nature of Crime- Legal Studies
The meaning of crime Crime * The fundamental role of criminal law is to protect society from those whose behaviour society has deemed to be unacceptable. Another feature of criminal law is the notion that all of society is the victim. Therefore most criminal law cases are brought by the state. Crime: An act or omission of duty resulting in harm to society that is punishable by the state. Most ...
4. Curfews should be enforced by parents.
It is not the government’s job to raise our children. Parents have the responsibility to make sure their children are home at a reasonable hour, and not putting themselves in danger. When parents put this burden on their local government, everyone suffers. Police must spend less time fighting crimes that have been committed, making the streets more dangerous. Tax revenue used to enforce curfew means less money in everyone’s pocket. We should not allow irresponsible parents to harm the interests of the entire community.
5. Young adults are subject to harassment.
It is often difficult to tell if someone driving a car is an adult or not. Even up close, many young adults could be taken for minors. This would allow the police to pull over any vehicle with no probable cause or reasonable suspicion. The police could also detain or arrest any person who happens not to be carrying ID, if they might possibly be under 18. That covers a large segment of the adult population. Even more disturbing is that police could perform pat-down searches before a person even has the chance to withdraw their ID and prove they’re an adult. Curfew laws give police more power to interfere with the peaceful activities of adults.
6. Curfew laws are applied in a prejudicial manner.
Wherever curfews are enacted, their enforcement is typically greatest in areas where police are expecting trouble. It makes sense — but these areas also generally contain greater populations of minorities and people living in poverty. As a result, curfew laws unfairly target these populations. As shown in the preceeding paragraph, this also affects adult populations in negative ways, fostering bad relations with law enforcement that help perpetuate the conditions of crime and poverty.
7. Curfews are unconstitutional.
Extensive judicial precedent has established that Citizens are guaranteed the right to associate and speak freely regardless of the time of day. Furthermore, the Constitution protects Citizens from being detained or searched when there is no evidence of a crime. A number of curfew laws have been overturned for these reasons.
8. Curfews invite lawsuits.
For violating the constitutional rights of Citizens, and because adults can be wrongfully arrested for lacking ID, curfew laws create a substantial risk of lawsuits against communities. Such communities must then use taxpayer money to hire lawyers for their defense. Costly settlements may also drain the resources of a community.
The Essay on Wuthering Heights Childs Emotions Vs Adult Emotions
Child Emotions vs. Adult Emotions By Andrea Lee All appearances said that Catherine Linton was as grown up as she could be, she was married and quite past the age when one is considered an adult. But, if one would look just a little farther, they could see that in all her rebelliousness she is maintaining a carefully constructed facade, created to look adult while she spends hours of time dreaming ...
9. We don’t have enough resources to enforce a curfew.
No one disputes the fact that there aren’t enough police to fully enforce a curfew. Therefore, the curfew cannot actually succeed at keeping children inside at night.
10. We already have the tools we need.
We have child endangerment and parental negligence laws to deal with parents who wont take responsibility for their children. If parents need help, they can get police assistance through the Persons In Need of Supervision program. It’s a better solution to increase funding for these programs. This targeted approach will work much better than casting a wide net we already know we don’t have the resources for.
11. Curfew laws foster resentment toward police.
Curfew encounters make young people resent the actions of police. If this happens repeatedly, due to poor parenting, children grow up distrustful of police. This makes them less likely to report a crime or help solve it by providing information. Ultimately, it makes the community more dangerous.
12. Curfew arrests make children feel like criminals.
The importance of this factor should not be underestimated. Children who are processed by the legal system begin to think of their role in society as a negative one. Once they begin to think of themselves as criminals, it is easier for them to commit crimes. This makes a community more dangerous, especially for young people.
13. Curfew laws can put children in bad situations.
If a child is picked up for curfew, and will not give their home address, where will the police take him or her? Will they simply take the child back to where they found him or her? Or make the child take a potentially dangerous walk home? Since there is limited space available at the youth center where police will take our children, will children end up being housed in jail? Also, what if police arrest rival gang members for violating curfew? Under the current plan, the police would put both youths in a room together. This could easily lead to violence.
The Essay on Teen Curfew Laws Being Enforced
Although it is obvious that the world we live in is far from perfect, at times, certain figures and statistics can just be plain startling. The growing crime rate in the country is one of these statistics. It seems as time goes on, more and more crime is developing, especially juvenile crime. From 1984 to 1994, the juvenile homicide arrest rate almost tripled. On top of that, the number of gun ...
14. Force will be used to detain children.
If a child tries to run from the police, or resists being taken home, the police may end up using force against them. Otherwise, how would they enforce the curfew? At the youth center where curfew violators will be taken, force will have to be used by the employees there to stop the children from leaving. Are you willing to let the police handle your children roughly? How rough can they get?
