Curfew Laws In America

Teenagers across America have curfews, it’s always been that way, but how would kids and teens react to having curfew set by law rather than their parents? Past a set time, teenagers off all ages have to be treated unfairly, like criminals. Why should innocent teens be punished for doing nothing wrong? If someone robbed a bank, would the people at the bank get arrested? No, so why should teens be any different? Just because they’re not adults, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have their born rights. Curfews imply that teens are dangerous, parents are incapable of properly raising their kids, and they promote racial profiling. Some may argue that curfews can keep kids safe; and can also cut down on crime. According to research, curfews have little to no effect on criminal activity. There is hardly any data to actually prove that set curfews can be beneficial to crime drop or communities. So, why have a curfew that doesn’t help? “They are politically popular tools, even without evidence to back up whether or not they work” says Kenneth Adams, A criminal justice professor at Florida Central University (Berg). Officials use curfews to give people a false sense of security. …show more content…
Curfews insinuate that without it, Kids will be dumb enough to get in bad situations and commit crimes. The curfew makes some teens feel like they’re being punished, even though they’ve done nothing to be punished for. This could negatively impact their feelings about themselves and authority figures. Jose Regaldo, 13, says, “It’s not fair. They think all kids are bad, but we’re not,” (Irvine). No one likes to be told not to do something, a lot of the time it will make them want to do it even more. “If you keep telling kids ‘no’ all the time and don’t give them a ‘yes’ they’re going to rebel- you have to keep a balance,” says Dr. Ellen Marmer,