Curfews make young offenders worse

Published on Thursday 13 January 2011 14:28

Curfews on young men who have committed serious crimes do not work, according to new research.

In fact, they lead to extra aggression and make alcohol and drug addictions worse, a study into violent youths caught up in gang crime has found.

Being banned from leaving the house between certain hours causes frustration and anger, which often leads to further crime.

And youths come to realise that police visit less often as the curfew goes on, and so take advantage to go out undetected after dark.

The research was led by Professor Ross Deuchar of the University of the West of Scotland. He said: "In most cases, curfews simply don't work when used in isolation.

"More often than not, they cause more agitation and strife in the home. Often, young people see an increased dependency on alcohol and drugs - they drink more in the day because they can't go out at night. They get cabin fever because they can't go out with their friends, and that leads to frustration. Their violent impulses get refocused in the home.

"Their anger leads them to threaten family members or to go out and reoffend."

Curfews are often handed down by judges to stop offenders going out late at night, when they are most likely to commit crimes. Young offenders give the courts their home addresses and are told the hours overnight they have to be there, and officers regularly visit unannounced.

Prof Deuchar spoke to young people who had committed crimes, including assault, gang violence, robberies and burglaries, in and around Glasgow and been given curfews. He visited police officers, ex-offenders, inmates in Polmont Young Offenders Institution and their families.

He said: "Curfews can put pressure on families. One father had to physically restrain his son from trying to go out of the door because he had a curfew.

"Another young man being kept at home punched holes in the walls and doors, which was intimidating for his mother. There was the threat of violence bubbling under the surface."

The professor of education said he found electronically tagged offenders obeyed their curfews and were less likely to reoffend.

But the study discovered community work was the most successful deterrent. Prof Deuchar said one former gang member who was sentenced to do voluntary work had now become a youth worker.

He said: "Curfews are handed out quite freely. These young offenders should not be treated like children.

"I would always recommend community sentences and, if curfews must be used too, they must come with the right support."

He is giving a lecture on his new Carnegie Trust-funded research at the university's Hamilton campus on 25 January.Jimmy Wilson, services manager at Family Action in Rogerfield and Easterhouse, in Glasgow, agreed with the findings and said untagged curfew orders were "a cheap way of jailing" youngsters. He said: "The parents are contacting us, telling us that after a period of months on a curfew, the young people are like caged animals and just wanted to be released.

"If there are younger siblings, these young people are taking it out on them and the household is in turmoil until such times as the curfew is lifted. It's a cheap way of jailing young people."