Curfews still controversial, but they can pack big fines
Originally posted on NJ.com.
NJ.com quotes CJCJ’s Senior Research Fellow Mike Males in an article on youth curfews: their ineffectiveness as a model of crime prevention and damaging impacts for young people.
From the article:
According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Report, juvenile crime across the state has steadily decreased since 1996.
“By sweeping young people off the street you actually create more dangerous situations. I know it goes against the stereotype that young people are just in the streets committing petty crimes, but statistically it’s just not true,” said Mike Males, a senior research fellow at the Center on Juvenile Criminal Justice, based in San Francisco, who has written about studies on juvenile curfew laws.
“Evidence across the U.S. has shown that people think they do some good. They make people feel safe, but they really don’t accomplish anything,”
“It’s a waste of resources for law enforcement an antagonizes youth.”