Curfews are a waste of time

Curfews+are+a+waste+of+time

Curfews are put in place to protect teenagers, but they are not effective. Although they might help bring children home at a certain time, it does not change their decisions while they are out. These decisions can range anywhere from just staying out late at a friends house to participating in threatening activities like drinking or doing drugs.

Even if kids have a curfew, “most teenagers don’t follow it,” said Akiah Cepelick after stating that curfews are not effective.

Parents put a curfew in place to protect and “make sure [their children] are safe… and so they don’t worry about them,” said Abri Hibler.

Although parents give their children curfews for their best interest, children see it as a punishment and a testing of their trust. Curfews encourage teens to see how far they can push the limits without getting caught.

“Our teenage nature does not like to be told what to do, so when we have a curfew, all we want to do is break it to prove that we are own person,” said Emily Kirvin.

According to the Nevada state law, curfew for anyone younger than 18, not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian is 10 pm to 5 am, Sunday through Thursday. On Fridays, Saturdays, legal holidays, and during summer vacation, the state curfew is midnight to 5 am. Punishments for curfew violations vary from fines to community service to possible detention in juvenile hall.

“If the state curfew is midnight, teenagers are going to stay out till 1. If they were to make curfew for teenagers 1 o’clock, many would just stay out till 2. I don’t think that pushing the state curfew back would be beneficial to anybody,” said Kirvin.

Although these curfews are law, teenagers are going to stay out later than midnight. Unfortunately, punishments do not threaten most teenagers, because many think they will not be caught and ignore the rule. Even if the state were to push the curfew back, children would still not follow it and continue to push the limits even further.

Consequently, curfews are not an effective way to keep minors out of trouble. As a community, we need to come to this realization, or teens will continue to push the boundaries.