Curfew Laws In America

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When the Declaration of Independence was written over 200 years ago we called ourselves free. But African-Americans stood helpless in the shackles of slavery. When Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation, again we called ourselves free. But women were barred from the voting booths and belittled in the shadows of men. African-Americans and women now stand equal on the steps of liberty, but is the struggle for justice over? The answer is no. A group that has so long been ignored must now take the foreground in the seemingly endless struggle for equality; that group is children. But as Rosa Parks and her single act of defiance so deftly proves, it is simple acts that will win this war. The first battle will attack curfew restrictions. Laws that are in place in most cities. Laws that jail children in their own homes. And violate their most basic rights. A curfew on the minors of America is ineffective and unconstitutional. Curfew laws are ineffective in both preventing crime and utilizing police resources. Officer Tom Dwyer a sergeant in the Sacramento police department believes otherwise, “It is an effective crime prevention tool.” But if in fact curfews are effective crime fighting tools why then are they not in place on all age groups. The only logical conclusion one could draw from this type of blatant prejudice is that it is only…show more content…
Officer Dwyer’s opinion is not shared by all those employed in Law enforcement, especially not by Bernard C. Parks who is the police chief of the entire Los Angeles area, in a statement to the LA board of safety Parks said, “Curfews have not greatly impacted the number of violent crimes or the people who become victims of crimes.” The reality is that curfew laws are not based on any justifiable law enforcement technique but instead they unfairly single out a particular age group because of a perennial stereotype against children and adolescence in

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