Curfew Today, Bedtime Tomorrow?

Editor’s note: This is the first winning entry in a monthly essay contest for high school students sponsored by The Times. Look for details on the Education page, published each Monday on page B2.

I am a criminal.

I am also a clean-cut, straight-A honors student who has never even touched drugs or alcohol.

I have never physically threatened another human being, nor have I ever shoplifted, and I dare say that my fellow citizens would think me a highly unlikely candidate to be a criminal.

Yet I am.

Last week I violated the curfew law enacted by the city of Thousand Oaks that decreed “any minor under the age of 18 years may not loiter on or upon public places or public roads . . . or other unsupervised places between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.” I was driving without a definite purpose at 10:30 p.m.

Fortunately, I was able to evade law enforcement officers and return home from my escapade with my admirable record unmarred. However, the mere thought that a respectable person such as myself may be categorized as a criminal is disturbing to me. Therefore I must protest curfew laws as superfluous and fundamentally unjust.

I will not deny that the reasoning behind curfew laws is logical: to keep minors off the streets after hours for their own safety. However, the definition of these hours is completely arbitrary and, truthfully, does not have substantial influence over the amount of crime that occurs.

For instance, although the Thousand Oaks City Council has specifically designated 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. as the hours between which minors should not wander the streets, there is no commandment proclaiming that crime shall not occur before or after curfew hours.

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In other words, crime is just as likely to occur at 9 p.m. as it is at 1 a.m. because no physical barrier exists to prevent this. Curfew laws do nothing more than offer a false sense of security and are essentially ineffective and unnecessary.

That teen curfews are ineffective is further proven by fact.

For instance, in anticipation of the notorious Devil’s Night, the city of Detroit established a curfew. Still, despite increased police presence, the number of arsons in the city has virtually doubled from 1989 to 1994.

Curfew laws are also unfair to both parents and minors.

Although the government may have had the best of intentions when it decreed curfew regulations, the fact remains that they encroach upon the rights of parents in a rather Orwellian manner.

Consider the parents who feel it is perfectly acceptable for their children to be out at 12:30 a.m. Unfortunately, due to the imposition of curfews, the government has taken away the right of the parents to allow their children to do so.

In a broader sense, the government is telling people how to raise their children. Although the curfew may seem benevolent enough, it may eventually pave the way for even tighter government control, such as a standard bedtime.

Finally, curfew laws do adolescents a great injustice by punishing the many for the faults of the few.

Curfews simply are not an adequate solution for teenage crime. Perhaps a more effective option would be creating teen centers and youth programs that would give teenagers an enjoyable way to spend their time off the streets.