During the Irish War of Independence, curfews were imposed regularly, including in Dublin in 1920 between midnight and 5 a.m. In July 1920, following the shooting of Gerald Smyth, a curfew was imposed in Cork City between 9pm and 3am; in August it was extended to many parts of Münster. [36] A 2011 UC-Berkeley study looked at the 54 largest United States. Cities that imposed curfews on teenagers between 1985 and 2002, noting that arrests of minors affected by curfew restrictions decreased by nearly 15 percent in the first year and by about 10 percent in subsequent years. [74] However, not all studies agree with the conclusion that youth curfew laws actually reduce crime, and many studies find no benefit or sometimes even the opposite. [75] [76] For example, a systematic review of 12 studies on the subject in 2016 found that the impact on crime is close to zero and may even backfire a bit. [77] Despite the relative pervasiveness of curfews and despite the relative acceptance of the curfew in Quebec last year, politicians this time have been criticized, ridiculed and defiant. Quebec political analyst Patrick Déry tweeted the first weekend of 2022: “I`ve never felt so infantilized by the government.” Some cities prohibit an owner, operator or employee of a business from knowingly allowing a minor to remain in the facility during the curfew. An owner, operator or employee of a business can also be fined.
[73] During the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, curfews are imposed in all oblasts of Ukraine, which typically last from 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Although curfews have gained notoriety during the pandemic, they are not new. In the Middle Ages, there were curfews in the form of an evening bell that rang to indicate that the cooking and heating fires of the day should be covered for the night. From the French curfew, literally “cover the fire”, these regulations were intended to prevent unattended flames from getting out of control. Many malls in the United States have policies that prohibit minors under a certain age from entering the mall after certain hours,[80] unless they are accompanied by a parent or other adult or work at the mall during curfew. [81] These policies are called shopping mall curfews. The youth supervision policy requires that all minors who visit the mall after 3 p.m. be accompanied by a person who is 21 years of age or older. An adult can take care of a maximum of four minors. The policy is part of the mall`s broader security program, which includes the addition of metal detectors, more patrols and a K-9 unit.
Malls whose policies prohibit unaccompanied minors at all times are called parental escort policies. [82] Alex Gask, Liberty`s legal counsel working for W, said, “This is a victory for the presumption of innocence and the right of everyone, regardless of age, not to be subjected to coercive force without good reason. With that in mind, and not against the benign legacy of lost teenagers or war-related patriotism, we need to read curfews now because the people who put them at the greatest disadvantage are still marginalized populations. From sex workers to difficult sleepers, from migrant workers to those experiencing domestic violence, punishing already vulnerable people through curfews is not a historical artifact. Specific rules have been adopted to further prevent large gatherings and illegal raves. Those who enforce the lockdown laws can impose higher penalties on those who break these rules. In the summer of 2020, england`s National Assembly restriction was a “Grand Assembly Rule”. The punishment for violating this rule was the same as the “Small Assemblies Rule” that replaced it. The Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991 quickly became impractical due to disputes over the breeds it covered. It was amended in 1997. In the middle of the 20th century, there were permanent curfews for young people in many cities around the world. California law still states that new teen drivers can`t drive alone after 11 p.m.
And Detroit`s curfew for under-18s was introduced to reduce violence and vandalism. It is probably this context that Déry was thinking of when he described the current curfew in Quebec as “infantalizing”. But Home Secretary Beverley Hughes said curfews would protect both young people and their communities. “These orders are not intended to be used in isolation, but are another tool that police and local authorities can use to combat antisocial behavior,” she said, adding that they would help protect children from “adults like drug traffickers or pimps or older peers who encourage them to engage in criminal activity.” But curfews, introduced as part of the Criminal Justice and Police Act, risk undermining relations between teenagers and police and could exacerbate racial tensions, it was claimed yesterday. If wartime curfews don`t ring a bell, then most will have heard of curfews for children and young adults. Curfews imposed on young people by governments tend to navigate rhetorically between protecting the influenceable youth — “anger,” as Harold Hill sang in The Music Man, combined with a gloomy 1920s landscape of billiard halls and horse racing when curfews were all the rage — and protecting a city from the same youth. Stanley said the curfews would apply to all children in the area, not just troublemakers. “Law enforcement could prove to be a nightmare as tensions and conflicts between youth and police increase, not decrease,” he said. “I regret the police officer who has to spend his evenings determining which teenagers are under 16 and which are over 16. It is this kind of legacy that tarnishes the current justifications for curfews, especially, but not only, those imposed after riots and violence.
The curfews imposed after the murder of George Floyd, or those that followed the brutal beatings of Rodney King by Los Angeles police in 1992, were perhaps the most remarkable. But it is certainly not only in the United States that curfews have been used to suppress protests. In 1970, the British army imposed a 36-hour curfew in Belfast`s Falls neighborhood, which did not ease tensions but increased anti-British sentiment in the city. But that`s not all. There is evidence that curfews have little impact on disease dynamics, especially if other measures such as restricting large gatherings or closing businesses have already been taken. As a result, the imposition of curfews has rightly set off alarm bells. Curfews not only trigger what social scientists call “reactance” — a sense of anger that leads to non-compliance — but they can also motivate people to move their activities from night to day. This is exactly what happened in cities like Detroit, where the initially promising statistic that teen curfews reduced the number of crimes at night by 7% was answered by the most sobering: during the same period, daily crime increased by 13%. In the 1700s, many cities in Europe and the United States imposed curfews targeting the population of slaves and low-income workers. This problematic legacy of social control continued into the 19th century. In the aftermath of the Civil War, for example, many communities in the Southern states imposed curfews on newly freed slaves to maintain the conditions of slavery after its abolition.
These were brutally enforced and began the legacy of the continuing race-fueled police strikes. They also drastically curtailed economic opportunities for black workers. The stated purpose of these laws is generally to deter disorderly behaviour and criminality, while others may include the protection of minors from victimisation and the strengthening of parental responsibility[72], but their effectiveness is being discussed. In general, curfews attempt to combat vandalism, shootings and property crimes, which are said to take place mainly at night, but are less often used to combat underage alcohol consumption, drunk driving and teenage pregnancies. Parents can be fined, charged, or ordered to take parenting classes if they are taught voluntarily or through inadequate control or supervision, allowing the child to violate the curfew. Many local curfew laws were enacted in the 1950s and 1960s to address the problem of “juvenile delinquency” by youth gangs. Most exceptions to the curfew are as follows: diseases, such as crime and police brutality, show no difference between day and night. With the certainty that people will find other times of the day to carry out the activities that are supposed to make the night so dangerous, curfews seem to be a dubious solution. Based on fragile logic, based on limited evidence, capable of doing more harm than good, and with the ability to maintain the long-standing stigma of some people, curfews should perhaps be relegated to the history books where they belong. A curfew is a government order that sets a time when certain regulations apply. [1] [2] As a general rule, curfews stipulate that not all affected persons are allowed to stay in public places or on the roads within a certain period of time, usually in the evening and at night.
Curfews are most often used to regulate young people. [3] Such an order can be issued by public authorities, but also by the owner of a house to people living in the household.