Persuasive Essay: Curfews

A curfew is needed for people who stay out late and cause mischief. Towns without a curfew have higher crime rates than those who refuse or do not have a set curfew. Three things that I believe can be hindered by adding a curfew are vandalism, kidnappings, and drunk driving. These types of deviant actions are mostly done late at night and a curfew would immensely help the rates of these three crimes go way down. (http://wcr.sonoma.edu/v1n2/males.html)

Vandalism is a problem for many towns across the nation and the rate could be cut immensely with the help of a strict curfew. This curfew would help keep a watch out for people who are up to no good. Graffiti has been a popular way to express one’s feelings in recent time. Although this may not be considered to some as a serious crime, it is vandalism and can make public places like parks and bridges eyesores for the public. Burglaries would rarely happen at all, if ever, if a curfew was set. Many do not understand that a burglary is a type of vandalism because of the aspect of breaking into a house and stealing valuables. This can be harmful to the personal property of others. Many other types of vandalism would drop as well. Things like mailbox smashing, egg throwing, and children sneaking out of the house at night would all be less likely to happen (http://gcclearn.gcc.cc.va.us/writing/12.html). To put it simply, a curfew would greatly reduce the little things that many parents worry about their children doing.

On a much more serious note, kidnapping is another reason to set a town curfew. Kidnapping is usually a late afternoon (dusk) to late night crime. A curfew could help facilitate adults and their children while playing on the streets and in our yards from these neighborhood predators. It is common sense to know if there are less people outside at the same time kidnappers are out and about, there won’t be as many targets, and therefore the number of kidnappings would decrease. In our area we are fortunate because kidnappings are not something many of us are very worrisome about. The point of a curfew is not to only lower crime. A curfew is also established to make the people of a community feel safer at night. (http://wcr.sonoma.edu/v1n2/males.html)

One thing many parents agree they would feel safer about is that if there was a curfew, their teenager or teenagers would have a much lesser chance of drinking and driving. This is yet another great benefit of a curfew making a community safer and preventing the possibility of accidents that every parent fears their teen may end up being a victim of. Drinking and driving is a problem that mainly occurs later at night during a party of some nature with no parental supervision. When there’s a party with no parental supervision and alcohol is present, like most high school parties, drinking will occur. Now, everyone knows no parent wants that to happen, but it does. The best thing we can hope for is that the teens there are not foolish enough to get into a car and drive after they have been drinking. A curfew would help keep them safe in a house where there is much less risk of them injuring themselves.

For those who assume a curfew is only a reason for police to give more tickets and receive more money on their pay check is absolutely ludicrous. A curfew is there to help keep a community safe and help cut down on late night mischief. Others have said that there is no need for a curfew. Our community is safe enough and we can all stay safe if we use common sense. There is no reason to think a sixteen or seventeen year old can use common sense after consuming alcohol at a party. Criminals may have common sense but it seems their common sense is quite different than a normal person. Many have also stated that in our community the very few criminals that there are, do not run recklessly around committing crimes. If they did they would be caught. One criminal is one too many and we need to do everything we can to make sure our community is as safe as possible. (http://www.youthrights.org/curfewspeech.shtml)

A curfew is needed to be put into action not only to cut down the vandalism, drunk driving, and kidnapping rates, but also to make the community feel much safer as a whole. With a curfew comes a better place to live. If the living is better, then the majority of the community will be happier and glad to live in the city they live in.