Once upon a time a group of three friends went to see a late showing of a movie. There were two 17-year-olds and one 16-year-old. We walked up to the ticket office of an AMC and attempted to buy tickets to a PG-13 movie.
"One ticket to 'School of Rock,' please," I said (don't judge me!).
"OK, that'll be $6," replied the twentysomething man in the ticket office. Yes!, I remember thinking, he's not going to ask my age. Much to my chagrin, as I got out my wallet and reached inside for the cash needed, I heard, "Oh, may I see your ID, please?"
"Yeah, sure," I replied, and I placed my ID on the window of the ticket office, hoping he would overlook my young age.
"I'm sorry, but I can't sell you tickets to that movie," he said.
"Oh, well, it's not rated R, is it?" I asked. I knew perfectly well the reason he wasn't letting me into the movie had nothing to do with its rating, but I still held on to a faint hope that he would let me in.
"No, but it lets out at 12:15," he said.
12:15. 12:15! That's only 15 minutes past curfew, I thought. Rather than making a scene and continuing my attempts at subterfuge and deception, I said, "Oh, OK, well, thanks anyway," and left the ticket office.
My friends turned around walked away with me, and we began to talk. First, we discussed what had just happened, and how I could have perhaps changed my behavior and successfully a gotten ticket to the movie. After that subject was exhausted, we decided to go to one of our cars and decide what we would do with the two hours or so that we had to burn.
God forbid we actually go home.
Eventually, after loitering about the parking lot, going to a fast-food restaurant, and driving around with no particular destination in mind, we decided to call it a night, and after a few more escapades, I arrived home around 12:15 a.m.
Now, I don't know if minors in the great city of Los Angeles get this treatment -- in fact I think they probably don't -- but seemingly minor annoyance is faced by millions of teenagers throughout America. This particular story took place several years ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I understand why there is a curfew in Tulsa; I even realize there is a necessity for it. The thinking behind it is, "What in the name of God's green Earth could a minor possibly be doing that is productive after midnight?"
It is true that there are minors who are "up to no good" in every city, and that they are often mischievous late at night. This is true of any demographic, not just under-18s. However, it is equally true that there are minors out late at night who are not breaking any laws, and even have the blessing of their parents to be out.
Not long ago, I thought the main purpose of curfew was to give police officers the ability to charge minors with an infraction when the police were reasonably certain that the kids were breaking the law in some other way, but simply could not prove it.
In other words, if an officer came across a group of kids who were right next to a wall with fresh graffiti on it, he could ticket them because they were out past curfew, even if he couldn't prove that they had actually defaced the wall.
Now, what I just described makes sense. However, what simply does not make sense is enforcing curfew at movie theaters. In the story I told earlier, my friends and I had two whole hours to burn before our parents expected us home. Instead of simply going home, we stayed out until the time that the movie would have ended.
This scenario is similar for many young adults in those two limbo years between driving age and coming of age.
Attending movies at the theater is a safe, productive way for young adults to recreate. So why turn away teenagers from one of the only venues of recreation open to them late at night?
Instead of seeing a movie and then going home when they are expected by their parents, minors are turned away from the theaters, and they then have nothing to do for two hours.
This policy creates problems, rather than solving them.
Turning minors away from late-night movies generally will not make them go home. Therefore, it does not prevent curfew violations in any large way. It simply eliminates one of the few things for minors to do late at night, and leaves them with nothing to do for several hours, which increases their chances of getting into trouble.
Mother always said, "Idle hands breed the devil's work."
I agree. I believe that the point of curfew SHOULD be to keep children safe, not to regulate their freedom. If a group of teenagers want to do something safe like watch a movie they should be able to. But then again, now that I think about it, what if they are out of the house without their parents knowing? In this case, I think it would be wrong of the movie theater to allow teenagers to go missing from their house and see a movie. Obviously, this shows how tricky of a subject this is.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, it is wrong for police to treat curfew as a way to give teenagers infractions who they think are being hooligans.
This is a great side to the curfew issue to think about. Something similar happened to me when I was in high school. My hometown created a curfew to keep young students form driving too late and getting into 'bad stuff' after midnight. After two years of the plan, they decided that having the curfew actually caused a rise in youth arrests and citations. That wasn't what they wanted. I think the youth generation today is very much different from than our generation was 10 or 12 years ago. They are finding new things to mess with, new drugs to experience with, etc. I think law enforcement should focus on new ways to protect and keep the youth safe. I don't think their primary mission should be to punish them.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this, because I grew up in California and the idea of a curfew seems very foreign to me. I believe that this state technically has a curfew for kids under 18, but I've never heard any stories of it actually being enforced. The irony is that there's a lot more bad things for kids to do here in LA (gangs, drugs, etc.) than there is in Tulsa. When I was in high school, the movies were the best way to spend a Friday night away from home. There were plenty of times where I wouldn't get home until 1 or 2 am, but I never had to deal with a threat of "curfew" from the authorities.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with everyone and especially JB's point about how weird it is that there's isn't really a curfew for kids here in CA but in Tulsa where I'm just going to assume is less crime or just "bad things" kids can get involved with, there is. In a perfect world this would be great! Keeping the kiddies at home, safely in their beds during the night, however, as everyone has pointed out, if kids can't be at the movies they will find anything and everything to do other than being at home. I really think states with such laws should think a little harder about this. Oddly enough, I'm siding with CA law for once! haha
ReplyDeleteWhile in -general- curfews are a good idea, their applications are weird. It's one of those laws that doesn't actually really help the situation. Will kids who ignore other laws actually pay attention to the curfew? I hate laws that assume people are morons. It's proven to be true of Speed Laws, of that damn 3 strikes rule, and a thousand others. These laws criminalize ordinary citizens who are just about their business rather than actually doing anything to decrease or punish criminals. Criminalization laws just make little or no sense, since those who they target are usually the best equipped to evade them, and those who are usually caught by them did not intend to break them in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe movies are a safer place to be then out in the street. If they are turned away from the theater because they are said to be "under curfew" these teenagers can simply stay out in the streets which can generally be more dangerous than letting them in to see a movie and I agree with the article here. Personally I have never been in such a situation, however, I agree with Eric, we are no longer in that era where we have to necessarily follow a curfew, I think there is much more going that needs to be prevented which is not really connected to the time of day these teenagers are out.
ReplyDeleteI have never experienced a curfew before, so I would not know the experience, but in LA i can see why it is kind of difficult to have a curfew within the city limits, mainly because the city is too big and there are not enough police officers to patrol all of LA just to initiate a curfew. I agree with those who feel that we no longer need a curfew in our day an age, because first off most places in LA are closed way before midnight so the only thing most kids can do is either go home or sneak into night clubs.
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