Why aren’t you home? Cities and burbs crack down for the summer

Beck, M. (1995, July 17.) "Why aren’t you home? Cities and burbs crack down for the summer." Newsweek, p. 55.

OVERVIEW

This summer, curfews are spreading rapidly through suburban America. In areas such as Laurel, Maryland, where there are no assault rifles or gang members and the streets are not exactly "mean," curfews provide psychological comfort to parents and neighbors. Urban areas that are reeling from juvenile crime are also rediscovering curfews. One fourth of the nation’s 200 largest cities imposed curfews in the 1990s. A 50-year-old curfew was reinstated in Indianapolis this year after three teens fatally shot a cabdriver and two others stomped a young person to death. Minneapolis’ Urban League has set up a detention center where youth workers counsel curfew violators.

Here are some other examples of how towns are keeping their teens in order:

• Towns from Fargo, North Dakota to West Bend, Wisconsin have outlawed cruising.
• Some stores in Iowa City, Iowa will not sell toilet paper or eggs to teens at night.
• Chicago has banned all sales of spray paint and large indelible markers and have arrested more than 50 kids for spreading graffiti.
• This year, some 1,300 Illinois youth have lost their driver’s licenses to underage drinking.
• Towns in bankrupt Orange County, California, are fining parents of delinquents. Huntington Beach charges $35.80 for every hour that curfew violators are in police custody.

The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging such ordinances. The ACLU’s Kathy Parrent calls some of the restrictions "martial law on a small scale." Others complain that curfews are cosmetic and only serve the purpose of making a town "look" orderly. Northeastern University criminologist James Fox says that curfews just do not work. He says kids commit most crimes in the late afternoon when they are out of school and unsupervised. However, despite the views of critics, some cities have noticed a drop in crime following their curfew reinstatement.

Curfews may be most effective at protecting kids from society rather than at protecting society from kids. In Phoenix, crimes against juveniles have dropped by about eight percent during curfew hours. Even some kids agree with the use of curfews, saying that they may be useful in deterring young people from becoming involved in anti-social activities.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. What do you think about the use of curfews? About other programs used to help control the activities of young people?
2. Can you think of alternatives to curfews—such as community service programs—that would help keep kids focused and safe?
3. What do you think of the ACLU’s views on curfews?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Curfews can help keep kids safe from each other, themselves, and society at large. However, curfews cannot replace values taught by parents, teachers, and other adults.
2. The use of curfews does not address the problem of youth delinquency in the after-school hours, the time of day when problems occur.
3. In an increasingly dangerous society, it is important for young people to learn how to keep themselves out of harm’s way. Protecting them with curfews may rob them of vital—though difficult—learning experiences.

Sheila Walsh cCYS