Oh well, the success of decades of Hollywood "education". Note the teenager curfew is not to protect teenagers but adults from teenagers! And when these teenagers are adult (can't say grown-up), there will be a curfew for adults?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2216539&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeed s0312 To Curb Crime Spree, D.C. Starts Curfew for Teens ACLU, Others Say Curfew Is Too Strict By LAURA MARQUEZ July 20, 2006 - In an effort to halt the crime wave that has seized the nation's capital, the city council has approved a 10 p.m. curfew for anyone younger than 18. All teenagers - not only D.C. residents - for the next three months must be off the streets by 10 p.m. unless they are with a parent, on their way home from work, or going to or from a "structured activity." Local leaders are taking this and other aggressive steps to combat a crime spree that has resulted in 15 homicides in the past month. Chief of Police Charles Ramsey declared a crime emergency last week, canceling officers' days off and changing their schedules to beef up patrols. Regarding the curfew, "the idea here is to prevent loitering," said Vince Morris, a spokesperson for D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. "If teens don't have any structure at home or any good supervision, they're hanging out on a street corner looking for trouble. There's no good argument for that." The curfew is an attempt to cut down on the amount of juvenile crime in the district, specifically robbery, which has jumped 82 percent in the past year. While that number is alarming, it is common to see a spike in the summer months when school is out, the mayor's office said, adding that it follows a nationwide trend. After a 10-year decrease in violent crime across the country, the FBI recently reported a 2.5 percent increase. Police attribute the jump primarily to juvenile crime and easy access to guns. Other cities have taken action. In Boston, police are randomly searching vehicles, and in Philadelphia, police have installed video surveillance cameras in neighborhoods. But Washington, D.C., is the only locality to impose a 10 p.m. curfew. This is even more severe than the midnight curfew that has been in place in the district since 1999. This year, police have taken 2,000 juveniles off the streets for curfew violations and placed them in one of two curfew centers. Parents are contacted, and if they don't pick up their children by 6 a.m., their kids are placed in D.C.'s Child and Family Services Agency. The curfew has met with predictable outcry from teenagers, who call it "an abuse of power" and "an infringement on their civil rights." The American Civil Liberties Union has joined their cause. "The curfew is nothing but puff and periphery," said Johnny Green, executive director of Washington's chapter of the ACLU. He believes the curfew "will only harm young people who aren't doing anything wrong. They'll be stopped and have to prove they're coming from their jobs." And when it comes to fighting crime, Barnes called the curfew ineffective. "If someone is out to do something wrong, some little curfew isn't going to deter them." In addition to the curfew, the council approved a mandatory sharing of juvenile police records and the installation of video surveillance cameras in some residential areas. Summertime is the height of tourist season in the nation's capital. "Fortunately, tourism is still very strong," said Morris, of the mayor's office. "So far we haven't seen any noticeable difference. Most people who are planning on visiting the city are still planning on it." _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
