Taming Teens essays

Taming Teens essays In the words of Thomas Jefferson "Any society that will give up a little liberty to gain security will gain neither and lose both." (Anders 1) In today's society many jurisdictions are looking toward teen curfews to help stop teen crime. The curfew generally prohibits anyone younger than the age of seventeen from being in public from 11PM until 6AM on weekdays and from midnight until 6AM on weekends. Although, teen curfews are put into effect to tame young teens, teen curfews will not reduce crime rates among teens. Historically, America's first wave of juvenile curfew laws took hold in late nineteenth century. However, it has been over the past three years that the effectiveness of teen curfews has been questioned. Many people say that teen curfew draw's precious manpower and resources away from investigations of homicides and other violent crimes that are committed by adults, not the juvenile's. In the end, they say, the police got stuck with the babysitting job of the parents. Under the curfew, if teens were found outside after curfew, police would spend up to two hours trying to locate the parents. When the police are unable to locate the parents, most kids are dropped off at home with a simple warning. Only seventeen percent (17%) of violent crimes occur during curfew hours, compared to twenty-two percent (22%) between 2PM and 6AM so a fifth of the violent juveniles commit crimes when they are supposed to be already inside or at school. (Show 1) The statistics clearly show that the curfew does not stop acts of violence or crime; it merely sets time limits to them to let society think that curfew is the answer. One-half of the students polled by the Education Department say that they have seen weapons in schools, and four out of ten students have had to put up with gangs. (Show 1) This statistic shows that even schools are not a safe havens for teens. Teen crime then, is all around us. The more that adults ...