The Pros And Cons Of Curfews

Decent Essays
Remember turning sixteen, and getting a drivers license? School and was out because it was the weekend and wanting to hang out with friends for as long as possible that Friday night but only until a certain time? Remember what it was like to finally get to experience the freedom that came with driving? Parents set curfews for children and teens to ensure the child’s safety. If children are out in the neighborhood with friends during the summer a parent might want the child home before dinner or even home before dark. Curfews do not help teens stay out of trouble; they contribute to the teen wanting to have more freedom, teens rebelling against their parents and the steady rise of juvenile crime rates.
Curfews are not a recent invention. As
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Another statistic as quoted by Lersch and Sellers said that in a city in Florida “self-identified curfew violators reported higher levels of involvement in criminal activity across eighteen categories of self- reported offense behavior. They also were more likely to report criminal victimizations.” (Adams 154)
While acknowledging the good side of curfews, the bad side must be attended to as well. The bad side to curfews is that they do not always work. ACLU Executive director Blumner states that “If the officials of Dallas, Atlanta and Florida and the numerous other cities around the country that have passed juvenile curfews believe that curfews will deter a teen bent on crime, they are woefully misinformed.”
If curfews were to be placed anywhere especially in a bigger city or state, the city/state would still have teens staying out late just to do what the teen thinks is right for them whether it is good or not. The question here is whether or not the government is doing enough to help keep teens off of the street. A crime-crazed teen will only want to go out and do more damage if a curfew was to be

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