Or so says JOHN C. LORE, co-director of the Children's Justice Clinic at Rutgers University who wrote the recent op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer calling curfew laws a waste time and money.
Of course he used many more, longer words to explain his point to Marty Moss-Coane on Radio Times earlier today.
Taking the pro-curfew side, LAURENCE STEINBERG a nationally recognized expert on the psychological development of teenagers at Temple University says that curfews, while not perfect, can still be a useful tool to keep teens safe (ie don't suck that much).
Many of the callers provide an interesting perspective as several folks from neighborhoods, which seem to be terrorized nightly by roving bands of young people, throw their full support behind the Mayor's recent curfew initiatives despite the lack of statistical evidence to back up their effectiveness.
And there's the rub. Many crime reduction techniques that criminologists claim are ineffective based on the hard numbers also have many anecdotal examples of the way they are changing people's lives for the better. If one person or one block or one neighborhood feels like nighttime has been more peaceful because of a curfew crackdown, does it really matter that, statistically, there have been just as many incidents of crime or vandalism citywide as there were before the action was taken?
The same goes for programs like Congressman Fattah's Groceries for Guns. From the very beginning I pointed out that most criminologists point out that such buyback programs do nothing to decrease shootings. But I have also been quick to point out that if turning in a gun gets some family two hundred bucks towards groceries, I have no problem with that. Just don't call it an anti-crime program. Call it an anti-hunger program.
Anyway... give the show a listen and let me know which side you end up on.
Comments (1)
Give the show a listen ( Radio Times ) and see which side I end up on. I can easily say without listening any and all agreeable revitalizing separables to the system of " Curfews " and " Groceries for Guns " is a worthy state of condition if general proceedings of performances are respected rather than considered a benefit avoidance.
Posted by Jasper Zeigler Jr | June 21, 2007 8:39 AM