The teenage years are difficult for both parents and teenagers, particularly when parents are unable to comprehend their children's rebellious and challenging behavior at this time while the teenagers are coping with their feelings and making the transition to adulthood. Effects could include blatant disobedience or extremely harmful behavior that could destroy families. Parents must be aware of warning signals, such as persistent rage, hopelessness, and withdrawal, and be knowledgeable about appropriate ways to interact with their kids through effective communication that avoids using threats. Curfews can be applied in ensuring that teenagers stay out of trouble and can be effective if only they are enforced properly and all parties do their part in ensuring proper principles while applying curfews.
There are some factors to consider while issuing curfews including the legality of the laws defining teenage curfews, the restrictions pertaining the teenagers’ freedom and ability to engage in basic activities and the role of the parents in enforcing the curfews. Various cities have different rules which govern the laws concerning teenage curfews and these laws must strictly be followed while imposing curfews. If the laws are enforced correctly and within reasonable measures, they go a long way to ensure good behavior amongst teenagers, but if the laws are unreasonable, they sometimes drive teenagers into defiance and ruined character. There are various articles, books and reports reviewing the various laws that have been imposed to maintain discipline amongst teenagers, including research by various experts indicating how to best deal with a teenager without driving them into a cocoon of seclusion.
Annotations
Bernstein, N. (2002). How to keep your teenager out of trouble and what to do if you can't. 1st ed. New York: Workman. (Accessed on 8 March 2017)
This 518 page book is written by Neil Bernstein, who is a specialized clinical officer in teenage behavior and who also gives guidance and counselling to teenagers and often plays as a probation officer role. His research is relevant especially in the introduction part of my essay as it introduces the reader to the role of curfews in keeping teenagers in check and factors to consider while coming up with these laws. The author is a specialized doctor in studying teenage behavior and has provided useful insight on the best ways to go about while dealing with teenagers who are experiencing hardships especially with their emotions. He is an experienced officer when it comes to the law and he has provided numerous guidance to parents and teenagers on how to deal with the various laws imposed by cities. He has also been a milestone in giving speeches and talks to various groups on matters pertaining youths and his well-researched work is a better illustration of his experience in the field.
Kline, P., 2011. The impact of juvenile curfew laws on arrests of youth and adults. American Law and Economics Review, p.ahr011. (Accessed on 8 March 2017)
This report by Patrick Kline from Berkeley is a resource that shows the effectiveness of curfews and arrest on both teenagers and young adults. The 29 page report was edited by Edward Morrison, and other contributors who provided background information on the curfews and their effectiveness in curbing delinquency among teenagers. Most cities have imposed laws which stipulate the various periods of times when teenagers should not be found in certain areas. The research is mainly based on reliable academic sources with deep insight on the impact of the curfews. Research shows that since the enactment of such laws, crime and destructive habits have actually gone down amongst the teenagers and youths, meaning that the laws are effective, though it is only to a small extent. As the report illustrates, curfew enforcement is important as crimes go down by 10% within the first five years of enactment. The general public seems to overwhelmingly support the policies, stating that the streets become safer.
Carr, J.B. and Doleac, J.L., 2015. Keep the Kids Inside? Juvenile Curfews and Urban Gun Violence.. (Accessed March 8, 2017)
The statistical report by Jillian and Jenifer, is a well-researched document which provides sufficient data about gunfire incidents amongst juveniles and the role the curfews play in preventing gun violence. The goal of these policies is to reduce crime but on the contrary the report illustrates that curfews have led to a 69% increase of gun violence incidence since the curfew was imposed, mostly during marginal hours. According to 2013 homicidal reports, about 80% of all homicide cases involving 12 to 17 years old are gun related therefore raising the question on how to prevent young people from shooting one another. More often in inner city communities many gun reported violence’s go unreported making the data potentially unrepresentative of the frequency of these violence. Moreover, policy intervention that aims to minimize the occurrence of gun related violence are mostly biased due to the under reporting.
Case, D. (2013). Reasons for Teenage Curfews. [online] LoveToKnow. Available at: http://teens.lovetoknow.com/Teenage_Curfew [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
Deana Case is a writer who has researched on the pros and cons of imposing teenage curfews including an insight on the relevance of these curfews. She cites some of the reasons for imposing these curfews include safety for the teenagers to eliminate worry amongst parents and minimize the chance of them getting into trouble. She further states that the curfews are necessary to help teenagers learn how to manage their free time and become responsible young adults. She has however not failed to explore the disadvantages that come with these curfews including the false sense of security in inner-city communities.
Miller, L 2014, 'Juvenile crime and juvenile justice: Patterns, models, and implications for clinical and legal practice', Aggression & Violent Behavior, 19, 2, pp. 122-137, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 8 March 2017.
The research by Miller gives us an academic insight on the various views of how the justice system interacts with day to day curfew imposed on teenagers. He has deeply reviewed and consulted with various scholars to come up with the article which summarizes on the seriousness of the teenage crimes. According to Miller, most crimes are fuelled by the teenage emotions and experiences peaking at late adolescence and declining thereafter. However, the more serious crimes are perpetrated by teenagers who have always been delinquents at a young age and continued throughout the course of their lives. Though crime can be curbed through imposing, the rules can only do so much to assure safety of the public. In his article, Miller has gone further and dwelled on the nature of each of these crimes, to give us a better understanding.
Collins, D, & Kearns, R 2001, 'Under curfew and under siege? Legal geographies of young people', Geoforum, 32, pp. 389-403, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost, viewed 8 March 2017.
The authors Kearns and Collins are academic authors who have written a relevant peer-reviewed journal article which aims at summarizing the purpose of curfews to teenagers in an effort to keep them safe, and whether these curfews actually result to significant change or not. The article argues that despite the ensured safety children through curfews, there is a moral downside where the teenagers are curtailed from certain public spaces during particular periods of time, which continues to shape the public space as an adult space, and hence illustrates that these policies are more dictatorial than helpful.
Murphy, M. (2012). Do Curfews Keep Teens out of Trouble?; Murphy. [online] The Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/living/2012/4/11/do-curfews-keep-teens-out- of-trouble-m-2952146.html [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
Murphy is a writer who researched and wrote an article in a periodical, which is The Guardian, arguing out the facts about the advantages and disadvantages of posing curfews to teenagers. He argues that as much as these curfews help control teenage behavior, the manner in which they are imposed dictates how effective they will work. He further argues that while giving curfew orders to teenagers, parents should be reasonable to avoid consequences like the children sneaking out at night and intentionally breaking laws.
Conclusion
In the end, we can conclude that though curfew are a popular way of trying to control teenager behavior, most of the time they end up not being effective as illustrated by various researchers in the above works. This is because most teenagers can choose to carry out crime activities whenever they wish and this does not give a sense of confidence to the general public. However, in specific states, crime reduction has been experienced at minimal rates, meaning that to an extent, curfews do work to mitigate crime. The manner in which authority imposes curfews on the teenagers goes a long way to determine the reception and obedience to authority by these teenagers. Handling them harshly most likely will result in defiance unlike reasoning with them.
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References
Bernstein, N. (2002). How to keep your teenager out of trouble and what to do if you can't. 1st ed. New York: Workman.. (Accessed on 8 March 2017)
Carr, J.B. and Doleac, J.L., 2015. Keep the Kids Inside? Juvenile Curfews and Urban Gun Violence.
Case, D. (2013). Reasons for Teenage Curfews. [online] LoveToKnow. Available at: http://teens.lovetoknow.com/Teenage_Curfew [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
Collins, D, & Kearns, R 2001, 'Under curfew and under siege? Legal geographies of young people', Geoforum, 32, pp. 389-403, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost, viewed 8 March 2017.
Kline, P., 2011. The impact of juvenile curfew laws on arrests of youth and adults. American Law and Economics Review, p.ahr011
Miller, L 2014, 'Juvenile crime and juvenile justice: Patterns, models, and implications for clinical and legal practice', Aggression & Violent Behavior, 19, 2, pp. 122-137, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 8 March 2017.
Murphy, M. (2012). Do Curfews Keep Teens out of Trouble?; Murphy. [online] The Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/living/2012/4/11/do-curfews-keep-teens-out- of-trouble-m-2952146.html [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].
Essay Outline
Introduction
Body / effectiveness of curfews in keeping teens out of trouble
Factors to consider while coming up with curfew rules
Effectives of the existing curfews including statistics
Pros and cons of imposing teenage curfews
Justice system and its interaction with teenage curfews
Conclusion / results of the curfews
