Curfew laws and their effects on teenagers

Curfew for Teenagers

Curfews for teenagers have long been a tradition in communities as a way to keep young people off of the streets and out of harm's way, so to speak. A curfew is a specific time set by city officials that determines when a certain age group has to home. This becomes a law of the community, meaning violations are punishable. While curfews may seem to be in the children's best interest, it creates more problems than it solves.

One problem that stems from curfews is that it creates criminals of otherwise law abiding teenagers. If a teenager is on public streets five minutes, ten minutes or an hour past curfew, they are subject to arrest. This makes them a criminal for something that for the rest of the population is not a crime. Moreover, it categorizes or stereotypes all teenagers as delinquents, as if to say any teenager on the streets after curfew is up to no good, that they could not possibly have a legitimate excuse for being out past a certain time.

Another problem from curfews is that it creates a needless burden on the police force. While law officers should be addressing more important matters, such as real crime, they are forced to spend time rounding up teenagers who are out past curfew. Basically, it takes time away from officers who may be needed for other situations, and may also allow for real crimes to go undetected or prevented. If a teenager is committing a real crime, that's one thing, police should arrest them. However, to arrest a teenager for being on the street after curfew, simply creates hostility among young people towards law officials. Curfews create victims and criminals of otherwise innocent people.

A major problem that curfews present, is that they take away a parent's authority to set rules for their own children. What time a teenager should be home should be left to the parents' discretion, not the government. Every home has different sets of beliefs, whether religious or cultural. What is considered forbidden in one, may be permissible in another. Families have their own boundaries and guidelines, and their own punishments for breaking those rules. Curfews prevent parents the right to govern their own children as determined by their own standards.

Many argue that curfews are for the good of the teenager, and the good of the community. That it forces teenagers to be home and in bed by a certain time, safe from the world. One may also argue that curfews reduce delinquency and therefore make the community safer, freer of crime.