Afternoon.
I would like to take a moment and introduce some background on myself and this blog.
My name is Sheila S. I recently moved from Southern California to Boston, MA to pursue a dental education. I have a strong science background, earning my BS in Biochemistry from Cal State U., Long Beach in 2007. Although I would not say that I have experience in public policy, government, or economics, I did serve a term on the CSULB Moot Court team, which gave me an opportunity to gain some insight into how small events affect our daily lives.
As a dental student, I am guilty of “tunnel vision” or not looking beyond the daily grind of class, practical, and exam. I recently felt the urge to move beyond the ordinary while talking to someone more advanced in their degree program. I have very little experience in the topics that most people are discussing, but I hope to use this blog as an opportunity to grow, perhaps into a more contributing member of society.
I would like to thank you for stopping by. If you are interested in dentistry, dental school, or my personal blog, please visit me at http://waxupwaxoff.livejournal.com/ .
Now, for an official first post.
This was inspired by the Daily Poll regarding a National Curfew.
Growing up in a relatively quiet suburban neighborhood, I didn’t quite understand the curfew of 10 pm for anyone under 18 years of age. As a high school student, I was a very good child, by national standards, and so were my friends. None of us drank or did drugs. In fact, I was only vaguely aware of people drinking at my school – pot, special K, and ecstasy seemed to be more prominent as far as I was concerned. The people who I knew who were doing drugs executed most of their illicit activities during daylight, with most purchases occurring on campus and most use occurring at home.
Overall, the curfew was regarded mostly as a joke. If you were driving off somewhere and got stopped, all you had to say was that you were on your way home. The only purpose it seemed to serve was as leverage for parents to get their kids home at a decent hour. Only twice was I ever acutely aware of the curfew in my daily life.
The first was when a large group of my close friends got ticketed for being out on New Year’s Eve. Those of you who have ever celebrated the New Year might be aware that the whole point of the holiday is to be present at midnight when the calendar year changes, midnight being two hours past curfew. Not having been present myself, all I know is that my friends were at a local elementary by the party host’s house, a spot we would frequent simply because as teenagers there are only so many places you can really go. The cops showed up and rounded up everyone in the vicinity and administered tickets for curfew violation, but more so for trespassing onto the elementary school. Most of my friends contested the tickets, and those who did had the charges dropped. The curfew seemed even more silly, even more excessively and pointlessly restrictive. Even after the event, we paid it no attention.
The second time I became aware of the curfew was in college. As a November baby I started college off early at the ripe age of 17. I recall walking to a friend’s house and being stopped because, after all, I still look very very young. The officer asked for my driver’s license and informed me that I was violating curfew. I pulled out my school ID, pointed out that my birthday was near, and informed him that I had not (yet) been drinking. Looking at my college ID, he let me pass.
Those are the long and short of my experiences with my area’s curfew. They demonstrate general trends regarding curfew law, mainly that no one takes the curfew seriously and that it does not stop any real crime from taking place. Looking back, a curfew violation must have only been taken seriously *after* a crime had taken place – as something extra to add as if to say “He robbed the store *and* it was after dark.”
In terms of *who* should make curfew laws, if any, I believe that having a national law, while streamlining the process, would violate the concept of federalism. A curfew law is insignificant in the long run and highly individual to the culture of an area. Consequently, it should fall under the care of more local governments: cities, counties, or states.
Plus, it’s not as if you can’t say, upon being stopped, that you were unfamiliar with the local law because you just moved. It’s a silly law, and you shouldn’t really be doing anything naughty to make them want to detain you in the first place.
