Curfews

Curfew
Kiffany Rice
Grand Canyon University: UNV-303
July 5, 2015

Curfews

When I was growing up, my grandmother always told me that nothing was open past 10:00 pm but legs and hotels. I knew that my grandmother was only trying to tell me to come home at a descent hour.  Curfew is define in the free dictionary as a regulation or rule-requiring certain or all people to leave the street or be at home at a prescribed hour. In this essay I am going to tell you how curfews got started, my personal views on having a curfew, and the curfews in different places.

In the year of 1880 the first youth curfew was adopted by Omaha, Nebraska. In 1884, President Harrison called curfews “the most important municipal regulation for the protection of children in American homes from the voices of the street.” In 1960 60 out of 110 cities has a set curfew. Now in the year of 2015 more than 50% of 500 cities has a set curfew. In today’s society a curfew means so much more than back in the 1800 (Favro, 2001, p.1).It is now a great way to help keep out youth safe and out of harm’s way. When Texas impartment there curfew laws crime rates went down by 84% in the first year. In 1996 President Bill Clinton measure allotting $75 million to help local governments enact curfews and other anti-crime ordinances. “They help keep our children out of harm’s way,” Clinton declared (Zimmerman, 2011 p.3).

My personal view on having a curfew is it show respect. My grandmother also told me you have to show respect to earn respect. If you come home anytime you get ready it doesn’t say I respect you, it is saying I could care less about you. At the ages of 15-16 my curfew was 9:30 p.m. When I got between the ages of 17-19 my curfew increase to 11:30 p.m.-12:30 p.m. Even when attending college and staying on campus I still had a curfew. But when I got home on the weekend to visit my mom, she would always tell me don’t let daylight caught you walking through her door.  I had to show my mom that I was respectful and that I respect her house and her rules. So that is why my curfew got increase. I agreed with this because I knew that I earned it. When my son gets older he will have a curfew. If he does what is required then he will earn the right to get his curfew increased. If he doesn’t do what is required of him, he can just stay at home and look at me.

According to a Status report on Youth Curfews in America’s Cities, in the year of 1997 a survey gather information from 347 cities with a population over 30,000. 4 out of 5 cities (276) had nighttime youth curfew. 76 cities had daytime curfews and 9 out of 10 said that enforcing a curfew was a good use of police officers time. In a small city by the name of Batesville, MS, where I’m from, we don’t have a set curfew time. The only time the town gives a curfew set time is on a holiday such as Halloween or the Fourth of July. In a major city about an hour away from me called Memphis, TN the do have curfews. New Channel 3 reported that Monday-Thursday between the hours of 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., Friday-Saturday 12:00 midnight to 6:00 a.m. That is for the teenagers that was between the ages of 17 and 18. For the ages of 16 the hours are between 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Monday-Thursday, Friday-Saturday 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. If the curfew is broken a fine of $50.00 has to be paid by the child parent.