NCJ Number
155831
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 41 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1995) Pages: 347-363
Date Published
1995
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article examines the use of curfews for juveniles in major American cities and whether they have been a casualty of the noninterventionist reform movement spearheaded by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) or have become a common delinquency prevention measure in an era of increasing juvenile crime.
Abstract
Results of a literature review reveal that curfews are a widespread, controversial, and much-discussed part of the juvenile justice system. A telephone survey of metropolitan police departments in the 77 American cities with a 1992 population of at least 200,000 showed that 77 percent have current curfew ordinances. Some city curfew ordinances apply to only one age group and have the same hours every day, while other vary by age, day of the week, or season. One of the most legally provocative variations of curfew are those that apply only to high-crime danger zones or commercially important sections of a city. The police departments in 71 percent of the cities with a curfew use regular enforcement policies; the remaining departments use special enforcement policies, e.g., periodic curfew sweeps or zero-tolerance crackdowns, to augment regular enforcement. In most cities, curfew violations are treated like traffic citations, although some cities consider such violations to be status offenses that require some involvement with the juvenile court. Curfews seem to have become the norm, perhaps because of public concern over juvenile crime and gang activity. 2 tables and 36 references