NCJ Number
180361
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2000 Pages: 76-91
Editor(s)
Don C. Gibbons
Date Published
2000
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examines the effects of curfew laws on youth crime rates.
Abstract
The study used panel data from a sample of cities and counties. Analysis estimated the impact of new and revised laws on juvenile homicide victimizations (1976 to 1995) and on juvenile arrests for a variety of offenses (1985 to 1996). Statistically significant decreases appeared in burglary, larceny and simple assault arrests after revised laws, but only in the county data. Homicide rates did not change in either counties or cities, and new laws were not followed by reductions in crime. As any influence of the curfews appeared only for revised statutes, it raises the possibility that more vigorous enforcement after the laws were revised accounts for the results. However, results also could have been the product of chance. Under this interpretation, curfew laws had no effect on crime at all. Any effects they might have had were small and applied to only a few offenses, rendering their influence not as large or as general as policymakers had hoped. Tables, notes, references