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Crystina Miler
September 22, 2014
ENG101 WC2
Essay #1
Baltimore City Curfew
The Baltimore City Council has proposed new curfews as an effort to reduce crime amongst the
population of youth younger than 17 years of age; because these laws may negatively affect the targeted
population and families, these laws should not be passed. Additionally, criminalizing behavior without
initially supporting youth and their families will result in further fracturing communities. Furthermore, it is
imperative to educate the population about alternatives to violent behavior and initiatives to develop
individuals and the community as a whole; without an understanding of access to programs and services that
may benefit individuals, a curfew will only prove to limit youth further by convicting them of a petty crime.
The curfew laws proposed attempt to solve a problem without first initiating developmental solutions,
instead they propose serious criminal consequences for behavior that is without a remedy otherwise.
Currently, there are curfew laws in Baltimore City that dictate when youth must remain indoors:
children under 17 years of age must remain indoors after 11:00 p.m. on weekdays and weekends. This law,
effectively, attempts to reduce violence and criminal activity in that particular age group. However, a new
proposal suggests that youth between 14 and 16 would remain indoors after 10:00 p.m. on weekdays, and
11:00 p.m. on weeknights. If an individual is found to be in violation of the curfew, the proposed
consequences would include a $500 fine for parents or mandatory family counseling. Additionally, police
officers would then have the authority to request identification from youth seen on the streets after the
designated curfew. The city of Baltimore is comprised of a vast amount of low-income families who do not
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come from educated backgrounds; many youth work to help parents with household responsibilities, yet still
others live in environments that do not foster a sense of personal responsibility, nor do they have their
everyday needs met. In either case, curfew laws may restrict individual opportunity for growth and
development, particularly without an increased awareness of services designed to develop urban
communities.
Within the past three years, there has been a decrease of juveniles that have been required to attend
curfew centers, though this is largely due in part to an increased awareness of curfew enforcement. Despite
the fact that violent crime and other criminal activity has decreased, more stringent laws are being proposed.
Councilman Brandon Scott, the bill's sponsor, said the curfew "is not about rounding up thousands of
teenagers," and though there are centers slated for construction that are designed to create environments
where youth can find enriching and productive activities instead of hanging out on the streets, the
emphasis remains on enforcing curfew laws rather than contributing to the growth and development of the
citys youth -- this has the potential to create hostilities between police officers and youth, particularly in
areas where police presence is already reviled. As a result, confrontations between teenagers and police
officers may incite violence rather than quell it; it is possible that youth will feel targeted as criminals merely
for being outdoors, rather than feeling any sense of connection to their community. Despite claims that new
curfew laws are designed to identify families who require services, it would be more productive to educate a
community about developing programs and services: it is hardly productive to penalize individuals first,
providing services only afterward.
Failing to develop or educate a population that is at-risk, only attempting to assuage the fear of
violence and crime after penalizing youth who, quite clearly, require a multitude of community outreach
programs and services, is akin to taking one step forward and two steps backward; a community requires
enriching programs and developmental services that involve all of its citizens. Not only is the development
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of these programs of paramount importance to the success of a community, but it is also important that its
members are aware of programs and services that are available in their neighborhoods. With the
introduction of harsher curfew laws, without first identifying high-priority issues in a particular community,
it is likely that the underlying issues of broken curfews will remain unresolved. Violent and other criminal
activity that occurs during late-night and early morning hours may diminish to an extent; however, the
communitys population will remain at-risk for poverty and other urban afflictions as a direct result of
criminalizing behavior that is characteristic of low-income, poorly educated communities.
The proposed curfew laws will only result in an increase in mistrust of police officers in
communities where the tension between community members and law officials is already quite high; this is
quite reasonably so, considering these communities are in dire need of reconstructive programs and
rehabilitative services to promote responsible and productive behavior amongst its citizens, yet instead,
contemporary Jim Crow laws are designed. Without developing a sense of oneness with community,
teenagers will remain at-risk without knowledge or understanding of access to services that may help
themselves or their families become productive members in their neighborhoods. It is counterproductive to
criminalize youth for learned behavior without providing resources to change that particular behavior; it
would be much more intuitive and productive to develop poverty-stricken areas with the tools necessary to
grow into self-actualized adults, rather than to target youth who happen to stay outdoors late at night with
penalties and fines.




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Works Cited
Linderman, Juliet. "Baltimore Poised To Enact Strict Youth Curfew." Associated Press Regional State
Report - Maryland, 1 June 2014: Newswires. Web. 1 June 2014.