What is curfew?

What exactly is a curfew?  I curfew is an order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time.  If you are not home or where you belong at that time there are punishments. A curfew is something that most of us remember from when we were little. Most parents give there kids curfew to tell them what time they need to be home by.  Well the government’s curfew is the same thing, except its not your mom or dad telling you this time it is the law.  The time of curfew depends on what city and state you live in, it is decided by the state.  In Pennsylvania the curfew is 11:00 pm.  All curfews apply to teens that are under the age of 18.  Curfews all have starting and ending times.  The ending time of the 11:00 o’clock pm curfew is 5:00 in the morning.  If you are caught out during these times you will be punished.  Curfews may change and vary depending on what day of the week or time of year it is.  Curfews are used in more places then just the law, a lot of public places such as hospitals; homes, etc use them too.  Curfews are designed to keep people where they need to be when they need to be and away from being out late.  The normal time of day for curfews is late evening and the night time.  Many other countries besides the U.S also use curfews.  They are a good way to moderate the times in witch people are out at night.  Many people have different thoughts on curfews, some think we do not need them, some think we do.  Overall in the U.S it is for the state to decide and for them to say what time it will be at.  Just how when you have a curfew at your house your parents pick the time.  Curfew between different states, countries, homes, people, etc. are all the same in the way where they say what time you need to be at a place, and when you can go back out.  They are also the same because if you do not follow them punishments will follow. 

Getting pulled over for being out past 11

It was a Friday night and a group of friends and I had just gotten done a movie.  We were about five minutes from home and it was 11:05.  We were following the speed limit and all of the other rules.  All of a sudden a cop comes up behind us and puts his lights on.  We pulled over to see what it was the cop was pulling us over for.  With no justification on why he had pulled us over we finally came to the conclusion that is must be because of the curfew.  We sat in the car waiting for him to come up for about ten minutes.  When he had finally come to the car he questioned us on our age, where we were going, what we were doing and where we were coming from.  He had an attitude like he was expecting something bad from us.  As we explained to the officer we were on our way home from the movie and should be there in about five minutes he let us go.  After following us all the way to my house he realized that home was our destination.  I think that this is completely unfair and unjust.  Why should we be treated like we are criminals when we are just trying to go home?  It really bothered me that the cop had no other reason to pull us over but he was just pulling us over for anything he could (to get us into trouble).  If he would have never pulled us over in the first place we would have been home much earlier, but instead he had to pull us over for no reasoning besides the fact we looked young and it was 11:03 and make us get home around 11:45 witch is closer to midnight instead of 11:10 when we would have gotten home.  To me this does not seem like the cops are there to “help” and keep people safe that was just trying to get someone in trouble.  I have heard of a lot of different stories from people I know who the same thing had happened to me.  That just is not fair and is not what the curfew was meant for.  There are pros and cons for every law made but I have only ever been able to witness the cons witch makes me come to the conclusion that it is unnecessary.  I am 17 years old and I think that I should be able to be out at 11.  Personally, I think a good time for curfew would be 12:00 or 12:30.  If they say the law is to keep teens safe and out of trouble I think this time will work just as well for that matter and it is a considerate in between for everyone’s needs.  I hope that more stories like these can be heard and there will be change.  If we treated the cop how he treated us I am sure he would not like it.

Teens should be allowed to drive past 11 o'clock in PA

Should teens in Pennsylvania be able to drive passed 11?  If you are a teen, have you ever felt like it was extremely inconvenient? Well I do.   I think that an eleven o’clock curfew is too early.  I agree that there should be a curfew, it keeps teens safe and out of trouble but it should be later then 11 o’clock.  Speeding and rushing to get home is dangerous right? I believe that this is what the 11 o’clock curfew is doing.  Teens are out and about at 11 o’clock and before they even know it its already 11.  As they race to get home and fly threw yellow lights instead of slowing down so they do not get in trouble for being out passed curfew they put there self in more danger due to speeding.  A lot of parents have there own curfews for their children besides the law of 11 o’clock.  If you are a teen and your mom says you can stay out till twelve but the law says eleven are you going to leave your friends house early?  An 11 o’clock curfew is just another law to set teens up for failure and to get them into trouble.  Another reason the 11 o’clock curfew is to early is because most teens have jobs and work after school.  If they are working after school this means they are probably working till the night time, should they have to not be able to go to work because they can not drive them selves home when they get done around 11?  A lot of times things come up last minute, say you get sick and need to run to the store to get medicine.  Or you need to make a quick stop at the grocery store?  Well just another unconvinced for them because now they have to put of their needs until the morning.  11 o’clock is in the middle of the time where teens are out, so why does the curfew need to cut right in the middle of that?  One of the top places teens go on a Friday or Saturday night is the movies, if the movie starts at nine and it the average length of about two hours, they are already out passed curfew.  Also if you are pulled over for something else such as speeding or running a red light (something that is your fault) and it just happens to be 11:01 it just gives the cops another reason to get you in trouble, and trust me it will be used against you. Can’t they push the curfew back to make it more convenient are suitable?  If they were a little more understanding and thought about how the law was effecting people they would realize the best thing to do would be to push it back, even if it’s not by a lot.  They say they are trying to help teens right? Well one way to help them is to push is back because of the reasons stated above. 

Curfew for teens in Pennsylvania

There are many questions a lot of people have about the curfew such as "why is there a curfew for teens?" “Is the curfew a good thing, is it helping?”   Well, the answer to this is, there is a curfew because it is meant to keep teens safe and out of trouble.  Curfew was designed as a way to prevent teens from being out late.  The reason they do not want teens out late is because in most cases this is when trouble tends to happen.  The concern they have is that teens will be going out late and doing things that they should not be doing.  If they were able to do it with out getting in trouble why not do it during the day or while people are still out?  It is to prevent the sneaking around teens try to do.  One of the best ways to enforce the law for curfew is to keep track of drivers under the age of 18, if they are out passed 11 and they are the age of 16 or 17 that means they are out passed curfew.  If you are a driver under the age of 18 and it is passed 11 you will need to have an adult present with you in the vehicle.  Another reason there is a curfew for teens not only to keep them out of bad things they will do like use drugs, alcohol, get into fights, go to parties etc, but to keep them out of harm or things that could happen to them.  If you look at reported rapes, murders, robberies, etc. most of them occur during night.  Helpless teens are the main targets for criminals.  Accidents also have a higher chance in happening in the middle of the night. Drunken driving accidents statistics from 2006-2009 show that most drunk accidents reported have occurred late at night.  Drunk drivers are out mostly during the night (late night) and so are over tired drivers.  There have been many incidents where drivers have fallen asleep at the wheel in the middle of the night and got into a car crash.  Falling asleep at the wheel occurs a lot more then people realize and is very dangers.  It is estimated that around 2.3 million drivers have fallen asleep or dozed off while driving.  If you are a teen driver you are a new to fairly new driver and have less experience, it is dangers for anyone to be on the roads late at not due to theses conditions, under 18 and over 18.  But, to keep the roads safe giving teens a curfew is one of the things they can do.  All of theses reasons listed are just some of the reasoning in why teens under the age of 18 in Pennsylvania have a curfew of eleven o’clock pm.  These are just a few of the reasons for the curfew, after knowing some of the main reasons do you want your teen son or daughter out passed 11?