Implementing Juvenile Curfew Programs

Besides meaning "the sounding of a bell at evening," the word curfew also denotes "a regulation enjoining the withdrawal of usually specified persons (as juveniles or military personnel) from the streets or the closing of business establishments or places of assembly at a stated hour." [2] The latter application has begun to appear ever increasingly in research studies and articles as a way to stem juvenile crime and victimization.

For over a century, American communities have imposed curfews at various times in an effort to maintain social order. For example, curfews first appeared during the 1890s in large urban areas to decrease crime among immigrant youth. During World War II, many communities again turned to curfews as a method of control for parents busily engaged in the war effort. More recent interest in curfews occurred as a response to the increase in juvenile crime and gang activity during the 1970s. [3]

Today, lawmakers, government leaders, social scientists, and law enforcement authorities have begun to examine the legalities, planning, effects, and benefits of juvenile curfews. Most believe that any law that may decrease the number of juveniles involved in illegal activities and possibly reduce the crimes perpetrated against juveniles would benefit their communities. Although critics have voiced concerns about infringing on the rights of juveniles and their parents, as well as the effectiveness of curfews on crime rates, many communities have found curfews beneficial. [4]

THE CHARLOTTESVILLE EXPERIENCE

Located about 70 miles northwest of Richmond in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Charlottesville, Virginia, encompasses over 10 square miles and has a population of nearly 40,000 residents. Although the community had experienced relatively little juvenile violence, the city decided to adopt a curfew more as a preventive measure to protect its children from harmful influences, such as drug abuse and gang involvement, and to promote healthy behavior, rather than as a response to an increase in juvenile crime. Complaints of young people riding bicycles or loitering on the streets at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning prompted the city council, the police department, and concerned community members to find a way not only to protect these youngsters but also to help parents enforce their own curfew rules.

After several months of study and deliberation, the Charlottesville City Council enacted a juvenile curfew on December 16, l996. [5] The city council designed the curfew ordinance--

* to promote the general welfare and protect the general public through the reduction of juvenile violence and crime within the city;

* to promote the safety and well-being of the city's youngest citizens, persons under the age of 17, whose inexperience renders them particularly vulnerable to becoming participants in unlawful activities, especially unlawful drug activities, and to being victimized by older perpetrators of crime; and

* to foster and strengthen parental responsibility for children. [6]

With these basic tenets in mind, the Charlottesville Police Department examined other communities with positive curfew experiences and learned the importance of the three main factors that go into making successful curfew programs: community acceptance, consistent enforcement practices, and accurate record keeping.

Community Acceptance

First and foremost, community members must accept the curfew. Parents and guardians must realize that they will have to assist in its enforcement on the family level and always know the whereabouts of their children after curfew hours. Law enforcement authorities alone cannot effectively enforce curfews, all adults concerned with the safety of their community's children must join in the effort. For example, one way that the Charlottesville Police Department gained community support for the curfew involved using its school resource officers to inform all school personnel and students. This allowed students to learn firsthand about the curfew and its impact on them.

Additionally, communities should implement comprehensive curfew programs that change the punitive nature of the curfew into an intervention process that can attack the primary causes of juvenile delinquency and victimization. [7] These programs should include such strategies as--

* creating a dedicated curfew center or using recreation centers and churches to house curfew violators;

* staffing these centers with social service professionals and community volunteers;

* offering referrals to social service providers and counseling classes for juvenile violators and their families;

* establishing procedures--such as fines, counseling, or community service--for repeat offenders;

* developing recreation, employment, antidrug, and antigang programs; and

* providing hot lines for follow-up services and crisis intervention. [8]

These strategies proved beneficial in Charlottesville, which brought together representatives from its local law enforcement, judicial, social services, educational, religious, and medical fields to create a comprehensive program to protect its youngest citizens while encouraging positive, healthful behavior. Other communities, both urban and rural, could adapt, these strategies to fit their needs and available resources.

Consistent Enforcement Practices

While community acceptance remains paramount, a juvenile curfew can succeed only if authorities enforce it in a consistent, fair, and uniform manner. To this end, law enforcement agencies should establish curfew enforcement policies that set forth required procedures, including guidelines for confronting potential violators, enforcement options, and reporting and follow-up requirements. [9] Agencies should advise community members of these procedures to ensure their support and compliance. For example, Charlottesville police officers met with parents and guardians of juveniles and explained the procedures that they would follow. The vast majority of parents and guardians told the officers that they fully supported the curfew, and many of them, particularly single mothers of teenagers, said that the curfew would help them restrict their children's activities.

Officers who deal with curfew violators also need to comprehend the various reasons that youngsters may have for committing such acts. For example, Charlottesville officers found that some juveniles had not realized they were out past the curfew, others had run away from home and needed social or child protective services, while still others had engaged in repeated curfew violations for criminal purposes. Therefore, the department established enforcement guidelines and procedures for its officers to follow that included a variety of options-such as telling the violator to proceed directly home, transporting the juvenile home, or arresting and detaining the youngster. Agencies should encourage their officers to use discretion when determining their courses of action and always consider the safety of the violators, as well as the community, when determining which enforcement option to choose. [10]

Accurate Record Keeping

Accurate record keeping stands as an important element of successfully implementing curfews. A complete record should include the number of juveniles contacted as a result of the curfew and the number detained, released, and summoned. Officers should note when and where they found violators; their age, sex, and race; the reason for the violation; and whether the parents or guardians knew the whereabouts of the juveniles. Most important, officers always should document cases where domestic problems or abuse triggered the curfew violation. Charlottesville police officers found this especially true in cases where they may have never learned of such problems, and the youngsters involved may have never received the resultant social services.

The department also found that a follow-up visit, a letter, or even a telephone call by officers assigned to youth activities often prevented future violations. Whichever course officers take, they should document these actions, as well. Likewise, in cases that require the intervention of social or child protection services, officers should record this information and maintain communication with the service provider.

RESULTS

Many communities credit curfews with reducing juvenile crime and violence. Many law enforcement agencies appreciate the tools that curfews give them to keep youths off the streets and away from potential dangers. Many parents and guardians say that they can place boundaries on their children's activities more easily when other young people in the neighborhood must comply with a communitywide curfew. Even though these successful experiences with Juvenile curfews exist, critics often oppose such efforts on both practical and legal grounds. [11] However, research has shown that communities can reduce juvenile delinquency and victimization when community members work together to create and implement comprehensive curfew programs. [12]

Since the inception of its curfew, the city of Charlottesville has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of juveniles on the streets late at night or in the early morning hours. While the community experienced relatively little juvenile crime before implementing the curfew, even less has occurred after it began. Most parents and guardians have applauded the police department's efforts of having its school resource officers explain to young people the potential dangers that exist during these time periods. Also, school administrators have noticed an improvement in attendance. Implementing the curfew has gone smoothly, and the results have exceeded the department's expectations of safeguarding the community's children and encouraging them and their families to pursue healthy, constructive lives.

CONCLUSION

For over a century, communities in the United States have imposed juvenile curfews to help maintain order and reduce crime committed by youths. Recently, many communities have expanded this basic method of curtailing the activities of young people to include comprehensive, community-based curfew programs, which include strategies to protect children from elements that place them at risk for becoming involved in drugs, gangs, and other dangerous or illegal activities.

To protect its children from such harmful and unhealthy influences, the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, developed and implemented a community-based juvenile curfew program. The community felt that a preventive approach to its young people's wandering the streets late at night of in the early morning hours would prove beneficial in reducing the victimization of these youths. Concern for the safety of its youngsters rather than an increase in juvenile crime propelled the community to implement a curfew program. The success of this effort has shown how community members can work together to find effective ways of not only reducing juvenile crime and violence but, more important, preventing such occurrences in the first place.

Endnotes

(1.) John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th ed., ed. Justin Kaplan (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1992), 322.

(2.) Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (1996), s.v. "curfew."

(3.) U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Juvenile Justice Reform Initiatives in the States, 1994-1996; available from www.ojjdp.nejrs.org/pubs/reform/ch2_c.html; accessed October 5, 1999.

(4.) Department if Justice, Office and Delinquency Prevention, Curfew: An Answer to Juvenile Delinquency and Victimization? April 1996; available from http://www.ncjrs.org./txtfiles/curfew.txt; accessed October 5, 1999.

(5.) Charlottesville, Virginia, City Code, Chapter 17, Section 17-7; available from http://cityatty.ci.charlottesville.va.us; accessed October 5, 1999. Communities should realize that some individuals have challenged curfew ordinances; therefore, they should obtain legal guidance when crafting and implementing these ordinances. For additional information about ordinances that have withstood legal challenges, see Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Delinquency Prevention, Curfew: An Answer to Juvenile Delinquency and Victimization? April 1996; available from http://www.ncjrs.org/txfiles/curfew.txt; accessed October 5, 1999.

(6.) Ibid.

(7.) Supra note 4.

(8.) Supra note 4.

(9.) For an example of a model curfew policy, contact the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) National Law Enforcement Policy Center, 515 North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-2357; telephone: 800-THE-IACP; Web site: http//www.theiacp.org/pubinfo/.

(10.) Ibid.

(11.) Supra note 3.

(12.) Supra note 4.

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