BY CHRIS GOMES
Curfews are something that traditionally teenagers can’t stand, yet something that adults love.
Teen curfews often have a fairly innocent intention: to protect minors from doing anything that can harm themselves or anyone else. This belief that teens aren’t mature enough to take care of themselves, even up to the age of 17, is incredibly ill-founded.
Florida has long held a curfew, and some of its respective counties have tougher, additional restrictions and enforce some of these restrictions more than others.
Teen curfews began in Florida in 1996, to “reduce crime and keep people safe,” according to Miami-Dade Police. People who support teen curfews point to the spike in crimes such as burglaries during the summer.
“During the summer, the kids are out so we have unfortunately the burglaries that occur during the night, the vehicle burglaries, a lot of crime that is committed by juveniles and that’s what we’re trying to deter,” Miami-Dade Police Detective Argemis Colome said.
Teen curfews began in Florida in 1996, to “reduce crime and keep people safe,” according to Miami-Dade Police.
Although Miami-Dade Police may say that vehicle burglaries and crimes are the main push for regulation, the original reasoning for the implementation of the curfew was to stop fatal teen car accidents in the late ’90s. This cause has deviated over the years, and the truth is that the curfew has become more of a nuisance than an actual benefit for teens.
Broward County does not currently have an additional curfew like Miami-Dade County. Rather, there is no teen curfew other than the existing Florida teen curfew.
Teen curfews, on top of burglaries and stopping car accidents have been implemented to stop “youth violence.” For example, in 2011, Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia extended a 9 p.m. curfew on Friday and Saturday nights for all unaccompanied minors. The curfew was not effective.
“And that hasn’t done anything to stem the tide of youth violence in Philadelphia. Insofar as the downtown curfew has ‘worked,’ it probably just displaced crime from one part of the city– and one time of the day– to another,” local Philadelphia journalist Jonathan Zimmerman said.
The Philadelphia case study only proves how teen curfews don’t help solve the problem of crime, rather they simply send the problem elsewhere, an effort that achieves little.
Thus, the idea that curfews help to prevent crime is incorrect, and is more of an urban legend that something based in truth.
In addition, many experts say that reducing the number of people out in the city during hours of crime actually increases the probability of a criminal committing a crime.
Thus, the idea that curfews help to prevent crime is incorrect, and is more of an urban legend that something based in truth.
Curfews, in addition to failing to efficiently prevent “youth violence” and help towards public safety also stands as a roadblock for any possible entertainment teens choose to participate in. Many concerts in downtown Miami and Fort Lauderdale, which CCHS students often visit, are located in areas where curfews are in place, and thus restrict minors’ abilities to see the artists they love.
“[Teen curfews] may interfere with things teens have to [or want to] do late at night.” sophomore Austin Wu said.
Others have shared similar opinions on the issue, agreeing that teen curfews are restrictive for little to no reason.
“It just sucks,” sophomore Anastasia Masnev said. “Imagine going out with your friends and having to leave in an hour or two, when you could’ve stayed longer and [had] more time to be social or have fun with your friends.”
“[Teen curfews] may interfere with things teens have to [or want to] do late at night.”
Sophomore Austin Wu
However, there are some things that must be acknowledged surrounding this issue.
For one, the general public largely supports legislation for teen curfews. In a 1997 survey, 81% of nationwide respondents believed curfews to be “somewhat” effective and 51% said they were “very” effective. In addition to the general public, public officials and law enforcement also support curfew laws as a tool in halting youth crime, and protecting said youth from being victims of crime.
Number-wise, support for teen curfews may seem good on paper, but that may be trending downward as there has been a large amount of time since the latest data on the matter. Opinions change with time, and the same can be said for these statistics.
Teen curfews aren’t seen as much of a major societal problem from day-to-day. However, for the frequent concert-goer or city person, it can be absolutely detrimental to their plans. Curfews rarely help anyone, and stand more as a nuisance than anything else.
Photo by Makinzi Burgs
