Life in the year 2002 is not the same as it was years ago. Crime rates are going up, and often the perpetrators are young people with too much time on their hands and too little supervision. Because of a problem with youth crime, the city's mayor is considering instituting a 7:00 p.m. curfew for children under the age of 18. If this were to be made law, everyone under the age of 18 would have to be in their home after 7:00 p.m. unless accompanied by an adult. However, this is an unnecessary action, and it would be very inconvenient to younger teens. It is unreasonable to implement a 7:00 p.m. curfew because it would interfere with work schedules, discourage younger teens from participating in extra-curricular activities, and negatively impact the social activities of teens. .
Many young people under the age of 18 hold part-time jobs in order to earn money for either the needs of their family or themselves. Because most teens are still attending high school, their after-school working hours generally extend well past 7:00 p.m. If a curfew of 7:00 p.m. were instituted, teens would need to cut their working hours in order to get home in time to meet curfew. Businesses stay open much later these days, and employers would not want to hire people who had to get off from work before 7:00 p.m. Also, some kids need to work longer hours in order to make enough money to help support their family. The curfew would be a hardship to these teens.
Not only would such an early curfew negatively affect employment, but it could also deter teens from participating in extracurricular activities such as volunteer positions, sports teams, civic clubs, or church groups that meet in the evenings. For many young people these activities offer an opportunity for leadership roles as well as working with others. Many of these activities take place after the dinner hour and run well into the evening. In order for to make curfew, teens would have to leave early or the meetings would have to be cut short.