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They are out there causing trouble, drinking, smoking, and having sex. The teenagers: feared by parents all around the world. That is not the reality; the majority of teenagers will not be out looking for trouble. On a typical Friday night teenagers will be hanging out with their friends, catching up with everything that has gone on during the week. Why do parents fear for their teenager’s lives? So often we hear about violent crimes and things that go bump in the night, but do we think that the problems can be solved by a magical curfew? Can parents really keep their teenagers out of trouble or does an imposed curfew only lead to resentment and chaos? Parents think back to when you were a teenager, did you have a curfew? If so, did you follow the rules or break them? Teenagers are no more likely to follow the rules today than they were in the past. It is not likely that creating a curfew for teenagers will cut down on the risk of violence and rule breaking.
Curfews have been around in the United States since the late 1800s. Over time curfews have changed; the original curfews were in medieval Europe. A curfew was “the ringing of a bell indicat[ing] that fires were to be extinguished for the evening” (Fried 128). When curfews were adopted in the U.S., city officials and citizens believed that imposing a curfew helps to reduce crime rate and victimization of teens. First curfew was imposed in Omaha, Nebraska in 1880. According to the article, “Youth curfews popular with American cities but effectiveness and legality are questioned” President Harrison believed that curfews were very important in protecting children from “‘vices of the street’” (Favro). Later, curfews were adopted in many of the major U.S. cities that had populat...
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...e questioned.” City mayors society 13. USA Editor, 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
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.
Guarendi, Ray. "All's Fair in Love, War, and Curfews." Catholic Education Resource Center. N.p., 2011. Web. 25 Mar 2012.
Irvine, Martha. “America’s Curfew Debate.” CBS News. CBS. Febr. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
Polaski, Helen. "Should Kids Have a Curfew?." Life123. IAC Company, n.d. Web. 24 Mar 2012.
Rochon, Marie-Pier. "Positive Things About Curfews." eHow family. N.p., 2011. Web. 25 Mar 2012.
Sutphen, Richard D., and Janet Ford. “The Effectiveness And Enforcement of A Teen Curfew Law.” Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare 28.1 (2001): 55. Academic Search Complete. 20 Mar. 2012.
As Zimmerman explains, teen curfew laws gained their popularity in the 1900s. Their presence flourished during the 1920s with the Prohibition movement, when gang violence caused the community to become increasingly worried about children’s safety at night. As a result, more juvenile curfew laws were enacted. During the 1950s and 1990s, communal concern for youth grew, causing more curfew laws to be enacted to protect those under the age of eighteen. In 1996, President Bill Clinton approved a bill, providing the nation with $75 million to implement curfew ordinances. (Philly.com).
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
As shown above, curfew laws can play a very critical role in a teenager’s life. It can assist with keeping the city safer, help them get enough sleep, and help them build their personal skill under a well-structured system routine. A lot of people might find curfew laws for teenagers unconstitutional and contradict the first amendment, so they decide not to abide with it. But by doing so, they are placing more a bigger experience to teenagers who are still working on developing their skills to take on new challenges. After all, Teenagers are the future of our society if we don’t teach, coach, direct, and offer guidance their future will be unstable and unproductive and that will affect the entire nation.
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.
A curfew not only limits a teen’s ability to gain real-world experience, but also erodes a family relationship. Obviously enough a curfew directed towards many teens in one state seems too broad and the state needs to rethink their choice. These laws are just like saying the state government has complete authority to control the teens living in that state. Another fact is that a curfew only solves the problem to a certain extent - it will fail eventually. The crimes and bad actions that happen at night will decrease, but they will increase in the day. Granted that a curfew can protect teens at night who is to say it will in the day? Understanding how teens operate is one way of understanding how to better keep them from getting in trouble. Rather than just putting the tape on the cracks, put cement and see how long it will last.
“Studies of curfews in Tulsa, Oklahoma, showed that arrests rose despite the curfew law.” In the novel The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, and the article “ Are Public Curfews Fair?” a debate is formed over whether public curfews should be made. This being for real life and characters in the book. In The Outsiders, there is a gang of teen boys who always get into trouble in their society. In the article, research is shown as to whether public curfews should be made for teens around the globe. Although it may seem that public curfews are necessary for characters in the novel The Outsiders, there are multiple, stronger reasons why they are not.
Curfews have been around for a long time. Curfews were created to prevent teens from staying out late and getting in trouble. As John Green said “History doesn’t have a curfew”. I believe that curfews don’t keep teens out of trouble.
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,
Lesile, Katie. "Teen Curfews: Protect Teens, Curb Crime, or Just Peace of Mind?" Atlanta News, Sports, Atlanta Weather, Business News. N.p., 13 June 2011. Web. 22 May 2014. .
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.
A curfew can be described as an order establishing a specific time in the evening after which certain regulations apply, especially that no civilians or other specified group of unauthorized persons may be outdoors or that places of public assembly must be closed (Dictionary.com). This definition refers to the curfews that are enacted in some states throughout the United States and some countries. A curfew can also be described as a regulation requiring a person to be home at a certain prescribed time, as imposed by a parent on a child (Dictionary.com). Local city curfew laws are enforced with the intension of reducing the juvenile crime rate. On the other hand, parents enforce curfews to keep teens safe, to protect them and to save them from getting involve in illicit things.
"Curfews don't keep kids out of trouble." - NewsWorks. N.p., 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 3 Dec. 2
Curfew is the time at which you should be back home and safe. Most High Schooler’s will argue that “it’s stupid” and “I won’t get in trouble anyways”. Curfew for High Schooler’s and younger children is an excellent idea because it keeps students in line and out of possible trouble. If curfew was enforced it would eventually help kids be more responsible and trust worthy. Although some might think otherwise, High Schooler's are irresponsible and can not be trusted enough to not have a curfew.
"Handling Curfews." BYU David O. McKay School of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
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 different positive but many negative views in parents and teenagers.