Curfews Effectiveness in keeping Teenagers out of Trouble

Teenage Years and Challenging Behaviors

Teenage years are challenging for many young people as well as for the caregiver. Teenage defiant attitudes and behaviors have ruined the time period. Teenagers typically express their emotions in a variety of ways, generally in a negative way that is challenging for parents to control. Some of the emotions these young people experience include depression and anger, and as a parent, dealing with such issues at this time usually results in even more repulsive ways. A curfew is a directive from a parent or guardian that designates a specific window of time during which certain laws or rules are in effect. Curfews are frequently contested as to whether they actually improve adolescent control or make matters worse. The effectiveness of the curfew has been called into question with some suggesting it is effective for controlling rebellious teens while others oppose to such measures completely.

Curfew as an Essential Tool

According to Bernstein, curfews are essential in keeping teenagers out of trouble. The author notes that teenagers are usually troublesome (34). Most teenagers start the trouble and I some other cases, other individuals are responsible for it. However, the teenagers have too much emotion which further catapults them to deeper troubles that may be consequential to them or their families. In trying to overcome such problems, curfew should be used to deal with these emotions and stop the teenager from troubles. Kline echo Bernstein sentiments. He argues that curfew is an effective tool for curbing teenagers’ troubles or from them being in troublesome situations. The author backs his arguments by stating that since curfew was introduced, destructive habits and crime have reduced amongst youths and teenagers. He shows that after the enactment, the first five years was met with a 10% decrease in crime.

The Role of Parents in Enforcing Curfew

Kline discuss that the real reason for the effectiveness of the curfew is based on the fact that it reduces cross-age interactions. This is mostly evident in young adults who are in their late teens. The author argues that the effectiveness of the curfew is not based on the number of police officers that enforce it but rather, parents appear to be the primary curfew enforcers. When parents enforce the curfew, the results are faster and effective. Kline further illustrates that curfew for teenagers are effective in that it reduced the number of arrests of young adults by 15% in the first year of its enforcement. Bernstein supports these sentiments by stating that a teenager in curfew will likely learn rather than picking up bad habits (400). The reason is that out there, teenagers are easily influenced by peer pressure. Curfew reduces such influence and instills a sense of responsibility in the young adults.

Curfew Limiting Rebellious Nature of Teens

Bernstein further explains that parents are usually asked to tolerate way too much from their children. As such, they end up making bad choices and many become rebellious. The tolerant behaviours fuel the inner revolt of these teens. Curfew especially ones enforced by the state minimizes the rebellious nature of the teenagers by limiting the tolerance to their ways. It exerts a limit to their revolting nature. The teenagers will learn from their experiences and always ensure that their rebellious nature does not exceed a certain limit. In turn, this curbs their troublesomeness or wrong doings. The teenagers end up being good citizens of the state. From the book, it can be identified that curfew is effective in curbing rebellious teens behavior.

Ineffectiveness of Curfew in Controlling Teenage Troubles

Carr and Doleac discuss how curfew has been ineffective in controlling the ways of teenagers especially in causing troubles such as violence. The authors note that curfew has led to a 69% increase in gun violence incidence in urban areas since curfew was imposed. Contrary to the beliefs by Bernstein and Klime curfews are ineffective in curbing troubles caused by teenagers. Carr and Doleac further argue that in 2013, about 80% of all the homicide cases in urban areas were caused or involved young people aged between 12 and 17 years old. The authors further add that in inner city, many cases of gun violence go unreported either by the authorities or the families. As such, the number could still be high regarding gun violence perpetrated by teenagers. The curfew policy in this essence is therefore considered as a failed policy in an attempt to control violence or troubles by such young people in the society. Curfew is totally ineffective when the research done by Carr and Doleac is taken into consideration.

Biased Policies and Negative Impact on Teenagers

Carr and Doleac also discuss that policy intervention for curfews are usually biased. The policies that aim at mitigating the occurrence of gun related violence are usually underreported by the authorities. Prevention of violence using curfew therefore is ill advised. The hardest hit area is inner city communities in urban areas. The teenagers in such areas have lived a hard life compared to those from rich environments. The authors further discuss that teenagers in such areas consider rebellious nature or unruliness as a fad that makes them superior to other individuals. The policies, therefore, such as curfew becomes ineffective for them. Breaking these curfews is a norm and a fad. It only increases their ways of revolt against the system, parents or guardians.

Curfew as a Safety Measure

In her article, Diana discusses some of the reasons that curfews are imposed. One of the reasons is that it helps to eliminate worry from the parent. It is meant to be a safety measure. The author adds that it helps to minimize the chances of a teenager from getting into trouble. Diana has discussed the two different views regarding curfews among teenagers. She, however, strongly supports that curfews are effective in controlling rebellious young adults. She states that curfews help to manage the free time of young people in the society. It can be identified that idleness is one of the causes of troubles or violence in most areas. An idle teenager is a very dangerous thing. Deana notes that by imposing a curfew on a teenager, it reduces that free time. The little time that such a young adult has is used to do meaningful things. These can include doing assignments, playing with friends, or visiting a local park. These are the healthy things that a teenager is supposed to do rather than engaging in violent escapades.

Curfew and Stifling Teenagers' Growth

Research done by Collins and Kearns show that curfew is ineffective for teenagers. The two are against curfew and discuss that it curtails the development of a teenager. The authors first give the advantages of a curfew. They argue that a curfew helps the teenagers to be safe. They discuss that curfew, however, results in a small change in a teenager and some cases; it does not result in any change at all. It can be seen that curfew does not work for teenagers at all. The parents and the society want the best for the child. The police administration also helps to enforce the curfew. The authors suggest that the curfew does not help to boost the progress of teenagers. In that essence, curfew is ineffective in curbing the rebellious nature of most teenagers.

Restricting Teenagers' Social Interaction

The two authors further state that curfew leads to limit the child’s growth. What the two authors argue is true. Most teenagers are shaped by the environment. Allowing these young adults to interact with the society will help them have proper knowledge about the society, what they should do and what they are not supposed to do. Curfews do not favor this system. In contrast, it restricts the teenagers from exploring the outside world. At this age when many children are fixated on television, video games, and their phones most of the time, curfew should not be used. Many teenagers continue to be awkward in social places due to being indoors the whole day. Curfew, therefore, is not effective at all in curbing revolt by teenagers. To some extent, it creates other problems for such a young adult. In the hope of aligning the teenage to certain norms or rather rules, the teenager ends up being a social outcast.

The Role of Curfew in Controlling Troublesome Teens

Murphy supports the sentiments of Collins and Kearns. In his article, he states that there are some advantages related to curfew among teenage children. The author states that the curfew helps to control the behavior of a teenager. For instance, if a teenager is usually in the company of bad people, the curfew can help that teenager to stay away from that group. Additionally, if a teenager is usually found doing illegal things, curfew helps to keep such a young adult indoors and as a result, help such a person to be safe. It restricts his/her behaviors of doing such illegal things. The author also states that curfew helps to prevent children from sneaking at night or intentionally breaking the law. Such behavior can lead to a teenager being jailed.

Effective Implementation of Curfew

Murphy, however, states that the way the curfew is imposed dictates how effectively such a measure will work. Implementing a curfew is not a problem. A teenager may stay at the house after a parent restricts his/her movements. Leaving the teenager alone without advice does not help. It will only infuriate the teenager and probably worsen the whole situation. A parent should implement a curfew in such a way that such a teenager will feel loved. Most of the curfews are implemented in such a way that a teenager feels hated by the parent. This breaks the spirit of such a teenager. The curfew will, therefore, result in a more rebellious way than initially.

Curfew as a Tool to Tame Troublesome Behavior

Curfews are effective in taming the troublesome nature of teenagers according to Miller. Most crimes committed by teenagers are fueled by their emotions. Curbing this emotion will go a long way in stopping them from troubling others. Miller suggests that such troublesome teenagers can be controlled by imposing rules. One such rule is by imposing curfews. Curfews in this case are effective in stopping teenagers from being a nuisance in the society. Additionally, it helps to be safe from the elements of the outside world. Without curfew, most of these teenagers would end up being in serious problems. Teenagers who have been troubled need to have a curfew to stop them from continuing with their exploits of disturbing other people. According to Miller, curfew can be a very effective tool for dealing with teenagers. Other methods are ineffective such as warning or disciplining the teenager through words.

The Debate Continues

Curfew has become a hot topic among many scholars and child services. Authors have come with different views regarding this subject. Some of the authors support that curfew is an effective tool in dealing with teenagers that cause trouble. Some of their arguments are that a child will be safe from the negative elements of society. Additionally, some suggest that curfew helps a teenager to control one's emotion and as such, reduce the chance of such a teenager committing a crime or breaking laws. However, other authors have criticized this system. One author points out that curfew increases the chance of a teenager from committing another mistake. It has also been suggested that curfew reduces the chance of a teenager from socializing with other individuals. The outside world is responsible for molding a young adult. Enforcing a curfew, therefore, goes against this notion. The child teenager will lack the basic skills to survive in the world being in a curfew all the time. The different groups have presented different notions about the effectiveness of the curfew. The jury has not yet been reached, and as until then, the curfew will continue being imposed by some of the parents.