Dear Next President,

Juvenile Curfew Laws are laws set by a city or state which make it illegal for juveniles to be outside in public without an adult past a set time. As you can imagine, for us under ages, these laws feel downright unconstitutional. The objective of these laws are to reduce youth crime, which is said to be highest during the late hours of the night and the early hours of the morning. The penalty for breaking these laws vary with the state or city. Some places simply give a warning or have the parents pick up the underage, while other places use fines or even jail time as a punishment. In Wheeling, West Virginia--my city--curfew is set at 10:00pm to 5:00am on week days and 11:00pm to 5:00am on weekends. The punishment for driving past curfew here is a warning for a first time offense and license suspension until you’re eighteen for a second time offense.

Juvenile curfew laws were created without evidence of their effectiveness. Studies have shown, however that curfew laws do not reduce youth crime. According to researchers Mike A. Males and Dan McAllister, “Statistical analysis does not support the claim that curfew and other status enforcement reduces any type of juvenile crime, either on an absolute (raw) basis or relative to adult crime rates. The consistency of results of these three different kinds of analysis of curfew laws point to the ineffectiveness of these measures in reducing youth crime.” Thinking logically about this, if a youth is going to commit a crime such as stealing a car or vandalizing a home, why would they have any respect for curfew laws? It ends up being only a burden to people under eighteen, which obviously does not concern the officials.

This issue is one that troubles all teenagers across the country. The National Youth Rights Association claims that only two in four parents with teenagers are aware of the curfew law in their area. This goes to show that many of the parents do not support the laws. It should be the parent’s responsibility to set a time their teens are allowed out. With studies showing the ineffectiveness of these laws, something needs to be done to get them repealed. Far too many teenagers are getting in trouble because of this silly law. It shocks me how laws like these can be passed without solid evidence of their effectiveness. Please make help the youths of America have a voice, and repeal curfew laws.