The San Juan Capistrano City Council in Southern California is considering a draconian way to curb crime: a daytime curfew during school hours.

Not only does this send a chilling message about the value of young people, it's also ineffective, say Mark Lamb and Jonathan Huynh, high school students and leaders of the National Youth Rights Association - Los Angeles. They're urging other young people in the state to tell Council members that punishing youth for being young just doesn't make sense.

Youth curfews are often cited by policymakers as effective tools for reducing youth crime and solving other social ills. This claim is often repeated despite the fact that there is no comprehensive study that proves youth curfews are effective.

This paper from Western Criminology Review used statistics from the California Department of  Justice to conclude, “There is no support for the hypothesis that jurisdictions with curfews experience lower crime levels, accelerated youth crime reduction, or lower rates of juvenile violent death than jurisdictions without curfews.”

Making crimes out of harmless activities like walking down the street won’t keep anyone safe. Join youth rights activists in calling for a better solution.