Denver Teens Get Curfew
Is this really necessary? Starting April 1, teenagers under the age of 18 will have to be home by 11:00 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends. Penalties for non-compliance may include ticketing of teens and parents. Curfews may seem like a quick-fix to crime problems, but where is the evidence that they are effective? Curfew decisions should be arrived at after discussions between parents and their children. Every child is different and we don't need more "one size fits all" rules. Curfews also may violate constitutional protections against age discrimination, freedom of association and freedom of speech, to name a few. Here are some arguments against teen curfews.
The ACLU, an advocate in the rights of teenagers, has been fighting the curfew in many large cities. The organization has challenged the laws stating that they are "inherently incompatible with the Bill of Rights" and equivalent to "martial law, not democracy." They further argue that amendments other than the first are also being violated. For example, the fourth amendment offers protection against unlawful search and seizures; the fifth offers the right to due process and the right to liberty; the ninth protects rights not otherwise enumerated in state and federal constitutions; and, lastly, the fourteenth amendment offers substantive due process rights including the right to equal protection under the law.
Denver should work with teens and parents to come up with a real solution to crime issues -- one that doesn't deprive everyone in a certain age group of protected freedoms.
Comments
Submitted by Keddrick Hall (not verified) on Tue, 2005-12-13 13:25.
I dont think curfew is appropiate for teens cause thats when we begin our adolescence stage and thats when we start to have some fun and during the teen years we start to grow up so we should be able to have our space away from home.Im not saying that we should be able to come inside when ever we want but what im sayin is that we need a later time to come inside and thanks for letting me state an opinion this means alot to me
Submitted by Katherine (not verified) on Fri, 2005-04-08 11:08.
Although every type of discrimination is frustrating, ageism is particularly upsetting to me because it is unquestioned in so many cultures. I remember discussing issues of large-scale bigotry in history classes and given the opportunity to consider when someone might be justified to believe that "one race is this" or "one gender is that." It is way, way too easy for people to justify excluding or mistreating people who are too young or too old.
Submitted by Michael Ditto (not verified) on Mon, 2005-04-04 00:04.
Actually I don't know that one size fits all rules are as much the problem as their lack of one size fits all enforcement. I remember years ago my sister (adopted from S. Korea) and her two half-Japanese half Irish friends got picked up by the DPD at a Denny's and hauled down to the Wash Park Rec. Center in cuffs, which is where they were corralling the kids the last time they decided to enforce the curfew. Oddly enough, most of the kids in lockup were Asian, presumably because there was a perception that the Vietnamese mafia was taking over S. Federal Blvd. at the time. By the time he got the car out of impound and paid the fine, my dad was out a few hundred bucks.
As if my sister from Golden--the crown princess of 5-7-9, The Limited, and The Gap--and her two friends from Arvada have any clue about Vietnamese gangs. She was obviously picked up because of her race, not because of her actions (because you know having pancakes and a cup of decaf at 1:00 in the morning has such a high crime potential).
And it's not as if you can fight the matter--it's like a traffic ticket. You pay the fine and they expunge your record, or you fight it and potentially have an arrest record on file at Choicepoint that hangs with you for years like an albatross around your neck.
I'm damned lucky they never hauled me in. I worked at Gates Planetarium when I was a teenager, and was regularly in the city well after curfew because we did laser shows until 1:00 in the morning, and then we had to clean up. I did get bugged by the cops a couple of times since they like to congregate in the museum parking lot at night, but as you well know no one gets much whiter than me, which is probably why they never so much as checked my license.
