Specter
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Re:curfew - 2006/11/30 10:26
I admit the idea has merit.
Did you see though the latest news about the New Haven problem? Turns out that many of the shootings occur before dark - before the hours a curfew takes place. The problem is that we can't make laws to cover every single contingency, just in case. Are there troublesome teens in town? Yes. But I suspect that there are more good kids than the troublesome. And aren't we in fact punishing them because something might happen?
I guess what I don't understand is, other than a bunch of sullen teens, what would such a law get us? Is it unsafe to walk the streets here? Are there gangs of kids roaming around shooting people? Accosting them? Robbing or assaulting them? What would we be accomplishing by passing such a law?
We already have laws restricting younger drivers being on the roads after midnight. Those are good. We have laws that cover most aspects of the teen's lives. Most of those are OK.
Seriously - do we have such a problem with the teens in town that we need to regulate the hours they can be out and about? If not, why should we? Where I grew up we had a 10 PM curfew. The kids that were out causing trouble went out anyways - it was easy enough to dodge the cops. The kids that didn't cause trouble, went out anyways - the cops knew who was who and ignored the good kids.
The biggest problems we face with teens are 1) they are bored silly, and 2) many have lots of money, and little or no supervision. A curfew will not curb those issues. Not to mention that it will cost money for the police to be running around gathering up "violaters".
TVGuy - you are right that Hartford is not that far away. Still - the issue here is that our town is NOT Hartford. They are very, very different. If you really want to look at it that way - Bloomfield - just over the hill - has a fairly large crime problem. So does West Hartford - they had a "youth gang" last year (not all that much trouble in reality).
New Haven is huge compared to us, and the population density is much, much higher. The circumstances there are here are comparable to night and day.
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Talk atya L8r,
Specter
The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth. - Edith Sitwell (1887 - 1964); SHARE (2005 - ) |
Specter (1116)
