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f-o combat dlinquacy, but it if doing the job?
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from modernizing police records on
juvenile crime to building a recreation
al center, never got a full hearing.
Things like that cost money and time.
The public wanted a cheap, overnight
cure for delinquency. The curfew
seemed to be the answer."
It wasn't, the city manager feels, al
though he still believes curfews have
marginal values. "The difficulty," he
says, "is that people don't understand
that curfews are not an end in them
selves, but simply one phase of what
must be a broader, more imaginative
approach to a complex problem."
Even that limited approval of cur
fews would be disputed by all-out
opponents. Some claim that curfews
discriminate against a certain class of
citizens and therefore have no place in
America. Others say curfews are unfair
in punishing all teen-agers for the mis
conduct of a few, and they cite recent
New York. City statistics showing that
one percent of the community's families
are responsible for 75 percent of
juvenile delinquency.
The city of Clearfield, Utah, regis
tered one of the most unusual objec
tions, however its citizens complained
that the curfew siren at 10 p.m. was
waking their children!
The American Municipal Association,
a group representing 12,000 cities, has
studied curfews for years and the best
it can say for them is that they "focus
attention" on the teen-age problem.
"Nonsense!" opponents retort. "Cur
fews actually cover up the teen-age
problem. They deceive the public into
believing they've cleaned up their town
when all they've really done is sweep
. the dirt under the rug."
V
in recent months, curfew supporters
have found a new and thought-
provoking argument. A series of
crimes against children has shocked
more than one community indeed,
more than one nation. The victims of
these crimes usually have been walking
the streets late at night. In Chicago,
scene of six brutal child killings in two
years, stricter enforcement of a half
forgotten curfew has been urged, not
as a restriction on the city's youth but
as a protection.
One group probably will never be
won by the arguments of curfew back
ers. They are teen-agers themselves.
One national survey of youngsters re
ported that only 16 percent favored a
curfew in their towns.
However, the survey found that few
of the teen-agers actually would be
affected by such a law; their parents
already had imposed stricter limitations
on their night hours. The youths' ob
jections were on principle. "It's one
thing for your father to tell you when
to come in," a teen-ager said, "but an
other for a stranger to do it. What do
they know about us anyway?"
Curfews are aimed precisely at this
point getting the few careless parents
in every community to keep better tab
on their offspring. But do curfews make
errant parents more conscious of their
responsibility?
A Florida police officer doubts it. He
recalls how he conscientiously enforced
his town's curfew. "Then one night," he
says, "I picked up four kids loitering
under a street lamp, and I took them
home. But not one of their parents was
home! Curfew? It was better to leave
the kids on the street where at least I
could keep an eye on them!"
(Family Weekly welcomes your views
on teen-age curfews, in 300 words or
less. Letters must be postmarked no
later than midnight, December 16. If
we print your letter, you will be paid
$25. Letters must be signed but names
will be withheld on request. Letters
cannot be returned. Address contribu
tions to Curfew, Family Weekly, 179 N.
Michigan Ave., Chicago 1, 111.)
Family Weekly, December S, 1957 7
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