Curfews Should Be Eliminated

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“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.” ~ Thomas Jefferson. This quote epitomizes my position that curfews should be eliminated. Liberty is a concept in political philosophy that means human beings are able to govern themselves and behave according to their own free will. Curfews ignore the idea of liberty and have not proven themselves as a successful tool against juvenile crime and yet are popularly utilized throughout the United States. Curfews should be eliminated because they violate Constitutional rights, they can lead to discrimination and profiling of youth, and they take away resources, including money and time, from law enforcement.

The rights of freedom and speech have long been recognized by the Supreme Court, and freedom of speech and assembly go hand in hand. The fourteenth amendment guarantees that either state or local governments cannot take away first amendment rights. With that being said lets look at the constitutionality of legal curfews. Over the last decade or so, many of the juvenile curfew laws have been challenged due to the belief that they violate First Amendment rights as detailed in the state and U.S. constitutions. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and many other civil liberty groups have become very active in challenging these curfew laws to help protect the rights of all U.S. citizens. The First Amendment says that Congress can make no laws that prohibit people from peaceably assembling which in the simplest translation means laws cannot keep people from hanging out together peacefully. Curfews are passed to prevent groups of people as well as individuals from assembling or gathering in public places at certain hours. ...

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...U.S. citizens are as important to you as they are to me than I hope you will stand against curfew law.

Works Cited

Males, Mike. Macallair, Dan. "An Analysis of Curfew Enforcement and Juvenile Crime." Nya. 1999. National youth rights association, Web. April 16, 2011. .

Rands, Geoff. "Profiling classes." Marshall democrat 2009, . .Print.

Unknown. "Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School ." First amendment center. April 2011. Vanderbilt university, Web. April 16, 2011. .

Unknown. "Juvenile justice reform initiatives in the states 1994-1996." Office of juvenile justice and deliquency prevention. unknown. Ojjdp, Web. April 19, 2011. .

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