JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Philadelphia and Chicago are implementing curfew rules for young people in the aftermath of deadly shootings in those cities.
The move is an attempt to lower youth involvement in violent crime, but some research shows the rules can do more harm than good.
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Until the end of September, Philadelphia children age 14 and under will have to be home by 9:30 p.m., and children under 18 will have to be home by 10 p.m.
The new summer curfew rule is in response to a recent shooting that killed a 17-year-old boy and a 20-year-old woman.
The city of Chicago also imposed a similar rule in response to gun violence.
While that sounds helpful, research has shown that the use of curfews was not effective to solve the problem.
The Justice Department and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency even said in the 1990s that enforcing curfews “unnecessarily funnels large numbers of non-delinquent youth into a criminal justice system that is already inundated with alleged offenders.”
Also troubling: Data shows that curfews also consistently impact minority communities more.
Records from 2019 show arrests among Black and white teens are closer than they have been in 30 years but still show Black juveniles are almost twice as likely as whites to be arrested for violating a curfew or loitering.
In case you didn’t know, there is a curfew in the city of Jacksonville.
City code says that children under 18 are not allowed to be out at night after 11 p.m. on weekdays and not past midnight on weekends.
That’s without a parent or guardian or unless they’re doing a sanctioned activity like work.