The Impact of Juvenile Curfew Laws

Patrick Kline

August 2015

University of Michigan Economics Department

238 Lorch Hall 611 Tappan St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220

Abstract: Youth curfew ordinances are a widely touted, yet little studied policy tool available to local
police departments. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of curfew ordinances by comparing the
arrest behavior of various age groups within a city before and after curfew enactment. The evidence
suggests that curfews are effective at reducing both violent and property crimes committed by juveniles
below the statutory curfew age. Curfews do not appear to be effective at influencing the criminal
behavior of youth just above the curfew age, suggesting that the choice of statutory curfew age is
important in crafting policy.

I. Introduction

In the early 1990’s youth curfews became a popular strategy for combating juvenile delinquency. A
survey by Ruefle and Reynolds (1996a) found that 146 of the 200 American cities with population above
100,000 had curfew laws on the books, with 110 having enacted or revised curfew laws between 1990
and 1995. A subsequent study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (1997) found that 80% of the 347 cities
with population over 30,000 had youth curfew ordinances. Despite their popularity with local
governments, little is known about the effects of curfew laws on youth outcomes. While some research
attempts to estimate the effect of curfews on violent crimes committed by and perpetrated against
youths, the findings rely on tenuous identifying assumptions.1 Furthermore, existing studies have
ignored one of the central questions involving curfews, which is whether they have spillover effects on
other age groups. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of curfew ordinances by comparing the arrest
behavior of various age groups within a city before and after curfew enactment. Since curfew
ordinances only apply to youth of or below a given age, usually 16 or 17, young people just above a city’s
statutory maximum curfew age provide a natural control group. However, there are reasons to believe
that curfew laws may affect these exempt age-groups as well. By comparing outcomes for age-groups
several years older than the statutory maximum age to those just above the maximum age, I am able to
test for the presence of any such spillover effects. Analyzing both sets of comparisons is important
because curfew policies can be thought of as constituting two treatments, each applying to a different
set of age-groups. The first treatment, the statutory treatment, is that of being subject to a curfew
citation, fine, temporary detention, or whatever punishment is statutorily prescribed for curfew
violations by minors. This treatment only affects those youth under the statutory curfew age. The
second treatment, the statistical discrimination treatment, is that of being subject to lower standards of
probable cause because of one’s perceived youth. Police are unlikely to be able to distinguish between
young people just above and below the curfew age. Thus, for adjacent age groups curfews should raise
the probability of being stopped or searched by an amount that depends very little on one’s actual age.
The Deterrent Effect of Curfew Enforcement: Operation Nightwatch in St. Louis

Lynn S. Urban

July 2015

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the curfew check program in St. Louis, Missouri, known as
Nightwatch, to determine whether the program meets its stated goals of reducing recidivism and
victimization, as well as the mechanism by which this is accomplished. The rationale behind the program
is that the threat of formal controls by way of home visits and sanctions will elicit compliance with
curfew and increase the perception of certainty of punishment, and that juveniles who must remain at
home will have fewer opportunities for crime and victimization experiences. Perceptual deterrence and
lifestyle and routine activity theories were used to test this rationale. The research design consists of a
pre test with multiple post tests. A purposive sample of 118 offenders recently referred to the juvenile
court for an official charge was selected and surveys administered. The experimental group consists of
juveniles who received Nightwatch visits, the comparison group consists of juveniles with comparable
demographic and offense characteristics, who did not receive visits. Results of the process evaluation
reveal that the program functions well in terms of execution of home visits, but that record keeping and
number of visits are inconsistent with stated procedures. The outcome evaluation revealed that
between Time 1 and Time 2 the experimental group had significantly fewer self-report delinquency and
victimization incidents. The comparison group had significantly more victimization experiences between
these two time points. The mechanism for the reduction in delinquency appears to be opportunity
rather than a change in perceptions. Thus, the juveniles apparently changed their behavior but not their
perceptions of certainty of punishment. Several policy and research implications are presented. This
study should not be generalized directly to other sites, given the small sample size, high rate of attrition,
and that it is limited to only one study site. Jurisdictions considering a curfew check program such as
Nightwatch must carefully consider budgetary, logistic, and feasibility issues prior to considering
implementation

INTRODUCTION

Since its inception in 1899, the juvenile justice system in the United States has experienced significant
changes. Variations in demographics, population density, and social issues have prompted changes in
the court’s penal philosophy through time. Increasing juvenile crime and violence combined with calls
for offender accountability and a balanced approach to juvenile justice have forced courts across the
country to adopt new programs to deal with juvenile offenders. One program adopted in several cities
across the country involves the monitoring of court-ordered curfew for juveniles on probation. The
purpose of this study is to evaluate the curfew check program in St. Louis, Missouri, known as
Nightwatch, to determine whether the program meets its stated goals of reducing recidivism and
victimization, as well as the mechanism by which this is accomplished. The program was implemented to
address the issue of high rates of juvenile crime, including significant gang activity, in the city. Court, law
enforcement, and city leaders took advantage of a new federal funding source to introduce several
strategies for combating the problem. Nightwatch was one of these strategies, presented with several
stated goals and objectives, among them to reduce crime, reduce recidivism, and increase community
safety through the enforcement of court-ordered curfew of juveniles on probation. Crews of police and
deputy juvenile officers (DJOs) conduct home visits to check the curfew of juveniles, prompting
sanctions for violations and rewards for compliance. The rationale behind these curfew checks is that
the threat of formal controls by way of home visits and sanctions will elicit compliance with curfew and
increase the perception of certainty of punishment, and that juveniles who must remain at home will
have fewer opportunities for crime and victimization experiences. This rationale can be explained using
two criminological theories, perceptual deterrence and lifestyle/routine activities, respectively. These
theories will be used to frame the current evaluation, in order to theoretically link the stated program
goals with written program operations.

A youth curfew: A retrospective view of the rise, fall and legacy of the Northbridge Policy

Trudi Cooper

September 2017

Abstract
This article presents policy, practice and theory implications of a case study of a youth curfew. The
original case study of the Northbridge Policy Project set out to document the purposes of the Northbridge
Policy, how policy was implemented, and to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach as a generalised
response to child welfare and youth crime. The study synthesised data from multiple sources. The original
study concluded that although the project was well resourced, well managed and had improved greatly
inter-agency collaboration for child protection, these benefits could have been achieved without the
curfew, which undermined some preventative aspects of the project. The evaluation also concluded that
previously documented successes of the curfew for crime protection and child protection had been
achieved through displacement of young people to other locations that neither reduced crime nor increase
safety. After the project was suddenly curtailed, analysis used moral panic theory to examine the legacy
of the Northbridge curfew in terms of discourse about young people and legitimation of subsequent
practices in youth policing. The analysis found that the legacy had been unhelpful because it reinforced
the erroneous beliefs that the curfew had been an effective and necessary component of strategy

Introduction
Youth curfews have been rejected in the academic literature both because they violate
parents’ or young people’s rights (White, 1996, Chen, 1997) and because they are ineffective
as a crime prevention measure (Reynolds et al., 2000, Adams, 2007, Wilson et al., 2016,
Fried, 2001). These arguments have not been influential with policy makers, however, and
the Northbridge youth curfew operated for almost nine years between June 2003 and
February 2012. Curfew contexts and implementation differences complicate comparisons
(Wilson et al., 2016). This article uses a case study to document context and implementation
arrangements and to examine what can be learnt from the Northbridge curfew in Perth,
including how it came about, how it operated, what it achieved, and the reasons for its
demise. The article also analyses the legacy of the Northbridge curfew in terms of discourse
about young people and legitimation of subsequent practices in youth policing that place
blanket restriction on young people.