The Importance of Youth Curfews
A short definition of a curfew is a time of night that if you are
under 18 , 16 or whatever the age is, or you are not with an adult,
you would be fined and taken home. Do we need them? This is a good
question because there are so many different opinions. I will be
trying to cover most of these opinions in the text you are about to
read.
Curfews, what are they?
A curfew is a time of day or night, usually around 8 or 9 o’clock,
where you have to be off the streets if you are under a certain age
(around 16 or 18 would be normal). If you are on the streets without
an adult or someone over the allowed age you will be fined and taken
home. If you are doing any criminal activity you could be taken
straight into police custody.
Do we need them?
At the moment there is lot of youth crime and gang related violence.
These problems lead to even bigger problems such as deaths, drugs and
little children being educated to think that gang wars and drug lords
are the way of life. This will never stop unless strong actions are
taken and maybe a curfew could stop this. A curfew is a good choice
to stop this behaviour by not letting young kids get dragged into the
gang way of life and stopping drugs being sold to the children. It
could also break down gang work because normally 40% to 60% of a gang
would be under the age of 18. So do you think your kids would be safe
enough without a youth curfew in place?
On one hand you have a thing that could stop youth crime but on the
other hand it could be a breach of human rights and could also be a
really annoying experience.
If you have not committed a crime or you are just a good person who
This report is on the subject of the “Northbridge Curfew” policy which was implemented in Western Australia, under the Labor Government in 2003. The report will discuss a number of points, such as, what the curfew is, why it was created, and both the positive and negative reactions from the public after the curfew was put in to action. The report will also include a recommendation as to whether or not the Curfew should be extended to include areas outside of the Northbridge area.
can get away with what ever they want then there is a chance that they might
one of the most common ways that people break the law. When people break the law
This approach has been instituted in California and the PI believes it should serve as a model for the entire country’s juvenile justice systems to help teens discover the alternatives to crime and to prevent offending or re-offending in youth.
Today not only do we have adults committing crimes, but millions of adolescents are committing the same crimes as adults. “Statistics show more than 1.1 million youths being arrested on a daily basis, and more than 800,000 youths belonging to different gangs (Siegel &Welsh, 2014).” It is the state juvenile authorities to deal with these children and the cost is massive. So states came up with programs to put a stop to kids becoming delinquents. With doing so they hope to save money and help kids.
be made. They make sure there is enough legal cause to pursue a criminal charge. If the
The Legal Status of Sixteen and Seventeen Year Old Youth in Ontario. Toronto, Ont.: Canadian Foundation for Children Youth and the Law (Justice for Children & Youth), 1993. Print.
“Juvenile curfew laws are local ordinances that prohibit people of a certain age (usually under 18) from being in public or in a business establishment during certain hours (such as between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.),” according to a Findlaw.com article (Juvenile Curfew Law Basics).
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.
Juvenile crime in the United States is ballooning out of control along with adult crimes, and politicians and law enforcement officials don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. Despite tougher sentencing laws, longer probation terms, and all other efforts of lawmakers, the crime and recidivism rates in our country can’t be reduced. The failure of these recent measures along with new research and studies by county juvenile delinquency programs point to the only real cure to the U.S.’s crime problem: prevention programs. The rising crime rates in the United States are of much worry to most of the U.S.’s citizens, and seems to be gaining a sense of urgency. Crime ranks highest in nationwide polls as Americans’ biggest concern (Daltry 22). For good reason- twice as many people have been victims of crimes in the 1990s as in the 1970s (Betts 36). Four times as many people under the age of eighteen were arrested for homicide with a handgun in 1993 than in 1983 (Schiraldi 11A). These problems don’t have a quick fix solution, or even an answer that everyone can agree on. A study by the Campaign for an Effective Crime Policy has found no deterrent effects of the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law recently put into effect by politicians (Feinsilber 1A). It has been agreed however that there is not much hope of rehabilitating criminals once started on a life of crime. Criminologist David Kuzmeski sums up this feeling by saying, “If society wants to protect itself from violent criminals, the best way it can do it is lock them up until they are over thirty years of age.... I am not aware of any treatment that has been particularly successful.” The problem with his plan is that our country simply doesn’t have the jail space, or money to ...
if he/she doesn't agree with it. However, the case must be adequately investigated.
The problem of juvenile violence has become one of the most overwhelming problems of our time for Texas and for the United States. The problem is spread throughout the United States. The serious crimes are usually thought to be problems of the urban city, but this is no longer a problem just for the inner city. The problem has spread through the suburban areas of the city in cases just like the first example. Citizens are spending tons of money trying to fight the problem on their own. They purchase everything they can to combat crime. Women have mace, cars have alarms, houses have burglar bars and alarms, and many schools have metal detectors to try to control the overwhelming effects of violence (Defending 93). However, these efforts are not enough to overcome the effects of violence, such as man pictured below with an automatic weapon in the streets of his neighborhood (Gest p.29). All jail and court information leads to the outcome that there is a wide diversity of criminals in jail. There is no longer a predictable profile for a juvenile criminal. However, most of the criminals still come from the inner city. Due to a 21% estimated rise in the number of 15 to 19 year olds by the year 2005, the problem will get worse without a better plan. The American juvenile justice system is supposed to be the system that prevents juveniles form committing crimes, but the system was designed over 100 years ago to prevent minor crimes from occurring (LaCoya 12/2/94). The current system in Texas and throughout most of the United States allows juveniles to receive a less severe penalty than an adult who is convicted of the same crime. The current Texas system does not allow juveniles to be prosecuted as an adult until they are eighteen unless...
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.
The increased number of juveniles committing serious offenses is creating a worrying trend. In 2010 alone about 1.6 million juveniles below the age of 18 were arrested, among those arrested approximately 1.4 million of these cases were handled by the court (Sickmund and Puzzanchera 118,151). Many of these juveniles end up being incarcerated in juvenile facilities, while some are transferred to criminal or adult’s courts where they are likely to end up in adult prisons. In the recent past there have been calls for tougher punishments for juvenile offenders. The call for tougher punishment has resulted from a trend of an increasing number of “super predators”, brutally remorseless
"Handling Curfews." BYU David O. McKay School of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.