State and city governments around the country say that issuing teenage curfews is a step to prevent juvenile delinquency, but honestly it doesn't prevent juvenile delinquents. It just encourages them to take precautions before acting unlawfully.
Teen curfews differ from one locale to another depending on age. And though, law enforcement claims that the curfews help lower the crime rates for adolescents in their area, the truth is that most juvenile crimes are done before curfew hours. Instead of creating more limitations on adolescents, law enforcement should focus on the better solution: That is creating more opportunities for adolescents to have things to do and to have fun, thus creating a more positive atmosphere to surround them.
The curfew law or variations on it state: "It shall be unlawful for any minor under the age of 18 years to loiter, idle, wander, stroll or play in or upon the public streets, highways, roads, alleys, parks, playgrounds or other public grounds, public places and public buildings, places of amusement and entertainment, vacant lots or other unsupervised places in the town between the hours of 10 p.m. and daylight of the following day.
This law doesn't affect minors or any adolescents that are accompanied by the minor's parent, guardian or other adult supervision that has relation or custody of the minor. It also doesn't apply to a minor if the minor is upon an emergency errand or legitimate business directed by the minor's parent, guardian or any other adult supervision that has relation or custody of the minor, where the minor is returning directly home from a meeting, dance, entertainment or recreational activity." Of course when any law is created, enforcement of that law must take place.
Law enforcement is required by the state to have repercussions that they must implicate if a juvenile breaks the curfew: These include fines of up to $500, appearances in court and potential jail time.
Though severity of these repercussions will vary upon what the adolescent was doing at the time he/she was implicated, they usually consist of fines between $75 and $500.
Professor Sadiq Reza of New York Law School says about 21 percent of the children under the age of 17 he represented between 1993 and 1995 were arrested for crimes alleged to have occurred during those hours. But more arrests --29 percent -- were for incidents that occurred between 8 p.m. and the start of curfew time. The remaining 50 percent were for incidents that occurred between late morning and 8 p.m.
These numbers indicate that more juvenile crimes occur by day than by night," Reza says. "It seems that the problem of juvenile delinquency lies not with in the time of day, but with in the way they are taught to live. The reality is, guns and drugs have taken more affect on the
way our society lives and the affect has taken a toll on the life of teens everywhere. We need to, "stop the twin scourges of guns and drugs-scourges brought upon us by adults, not children."
The law professor adds: "If the community were to provide more options for juveniles like recreational sports, scholastic activities, or jobs then maybe we would have less adolescents on the streets, selling drugs, killing, and vandalizing. We need more positive ways for teens to live and to give them more opportunities to succeed. Through out the country states have been testing out this theory and those who have, have found a refined decrease in the juvenile crime rates when giving them options to participate in recreational activities such as; basketball, volleyball, ice skating, base ball, and
providing more jobs for them as well."
The curfew law was created to help the decrease of juvenile delinquency and to make the community feel safe, but the truth is that, the safe feeling you get from this is fake. The majority of the crimes committed by juveniles are implicated before curfew hours, and usually they are egged on by an adult.
If the community could come together and work as one towards a better solution for this issue then the teen curfew wouldn't be needed to make the people feel safe, because they would know that they were safe.
Take the real step and help teens, instead of limiting them, and in some cases, challenging their abilities to act out. Provide them with a better option. Teen curfews need to be removed and an opportunity plan needs to be put in their place.