• • Shameless Wire

  Mammoliti’s Curfew: Scapegoating Toronto’s youth

  February 11, 2010 • Cate Simpson

  Shameless Wire, our new training program for young journalists, is in
  full swing. Over the next few months, we’ll be publishing a number of
  guest posts by Wire participants. This first series responds to
  Toronto city councillor and mayoral candidate Giorgio Mammoliti’s
  platform, which calls for a city-wide teen curfew.

  by BerBer Xue

  Councilor Giorgio Mammoliti has been pushing for a teen curfew for half a decade now, and he’s not stopping because of his run for Toronto mayor. I, for one, do not like the fact that Mammoliti wants to pass a curfew that will dictate how our lives are lived.

  Mammoliti’s logic for this curfew is that it will reduce the number of murders in Toronto, but he is playing on fear, not logic. People are afraid of guns. People are afraid of teenagers. A natural instinct would be to suffocate that threat of teenagers wielding guns until it is gone. But last time I checked, there are not many teenage murderers in Toronto. Watching the news these days, I do hear my fair share of murders and shootings (more so last year). But the majority of these are done by people over 18.

  In any case, this curfew would be an overreaction. This is akin to enforcing the War Measures Act during the October Crisis, over-the-top and unnecessary. Parents should reserve the right to set their own curfews, at their own discretion. It should be the parent’s right, not the government’s, because they know their children far better than an impersonal law.

  Finally, let’s talk logistics. How is this going to work? There is no efficient way to keep teenagers off the streets at night. It would take a tremendous amount of people and organization to execute this well. Toronto isn’t a small town; there are so many places where teenagers could be. No matter how much the city spends, most of the night owls will be able slip away - we’re like Jell-O in that way.

  Mammoliti wants to use teenagers as a scapegoat, but his plan will backfire. I know parents who are not voting for Mammoliti just because of this curfew issue, because they do not appreciate Mammoliti’s insinuations. If only youth could also vote, just for this one election - we would show Mammoliti a real reason to fear Toronto’s youth.

• • In My Opinion...
  • Shameless Wire

  Mammoliti’s Curfew: Misguided and Ineffective

  February 10, 2010 • Cate Simpson

  Shameless Wire, our new training program for young journalists, is in
  full swing. Over the next few months, we’ll be publishing a number of
  guest posts by Wire participants. This first series responds to
  Toronto city councillor and mayoral candidate Giorgio Mammoliti’s
  platform, which calls for a city-wide teen curfew.

  by Diana Faria

  City Councillor Georgio Mammoliti thinks that we need a curfew for Toronto’s teenagers. Mammoliti is wrong. He is also making way too many assumptions about teens, implying that we are all irresponsible, that we all need this.

  We probably shouldn’t be taking Mammoliti seriously anyway – after all, his platform includes a casino and a red-light district in downtown Toronto, and giving bylaw officers guns. Strangest of all, Mammoliti argues that a curfew would reduce the murder rate. That is ludicrous. To quote Statistics Canada, “in 2008, 55 youth aged 12 to 17 were accused of committing homicide.”

  Does he realize that with Canada’s population at 30 million and growing, having only 55 youths accused of committing murder is extremely small? We can clearly state here that youth homicides are both rare and unusual. Statistics Canada also points out that “80% of solved homicides were committed by someone known to the victim.” The main problem does not lie in strangers on the street, attacking other strangers at random.

  If the problem is that teenagers are murderers, as Mammoliti seems to believe, than why not focus on the biggest problem, which is gang violence, instead of trying to label every teenager by making a curfew? In 2008, gang violence was on the rise. Why didn’t Mammoliti look at those statistics before trying to force a curfew on every teenager, peaceful and violent alike? Of course there are teens out there who are lost and confused, some even involved with gangs. But most teens do not need this curfew, and Mammoliti should leave them alone.

• • In My Opinion...
  • Shameless Wire

  Mammoliti’s curfew: A good idea in theory

  February 10, 2010 • Cate Simpson

  Shameless Wire, our new training program for young journalists, is in
  full swing. Over the next few months, we’ll be publishing a number of
  guest posts by Wire participants. This first series responds to
  Toronto city councillor and mayoral candidate Giorgio Mammoliti’s
  platform, which calls for a city-wide teen curfew.

  by Rachel Lee-Thomas

  Given the chance, some teenagers are practically nocturnal. We stay up late. Some of us stay out to odd hours of the night. Some drink alcohol, abuse drugs, do whatever they want on the darkened streets. Georgio Mammoliti, a city councillor and mayoral candidate, wants to put a stop to this - he thinks that we need a curfew for teenagers. He believes that it would help to decrease the crime rate.

  On some levels, I do agree with Mammoliti. Having a set curfew for teens under a certain age would really help to keep them safe. The curfew would keep youth off of the sometimes dangerous streets, and into a hopefully safer environment. One of the things some teenagers do when they are out alone at night is experiment with drugs and alcohol. If teens are wandering outside, under the influence, it can be pretty dangerous. While teenagers are out in the streets having fun, their grades are suffering. If students were to be inside after a certain point, they would have more time to focus on school work.

  If teens were inside at night, they might be a lot safer. While it’s true that teens can still drink and do drugs indoors, it’s a much safer environment than being alone outside. But it’s going to take a lot to get teens to listen. A curfew is a good idea in theory, but in the real world, it would be almost impossible to implement.
  
  Unfortunately, these rules and restrictions would make most teenagers angry. Teenagers don’t want to be babied. We want to feel as adult and independent as we can. If teens are told that they must stay inside after a certain time, they might feel a need to rebel. The demand for fake IDs would increase. Teens might be more willing to pay for a fake ID, figuring they need it to stay out late. But owning ID would then give them the power to do all sorts of other things, from buying alcohol to going to clubs.
  
  Overall, I feel that a curfew is a smart idea. It would keep teenagers safe, and in line. Their grades could improve, and there might be less crime. But realistically, it would never work in today’s world. Once the boundaries are set, most teenagers will find it almost thrilling to bend around the rules, and stay out anyway. It would take a lot to ever get this law off the ground.

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