NCJ Number
162876
Journal
Journal of Juvenile Law Volume: 16 Dated: (1995) Pages: 188-209
Date Published
1995
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article examines the question of whether municipal curfew ordinances violate juveniles' rights to equal protection under the law.
Abstract
The District of Columbia in 1989 enacted a juvenile curfew ordinance in an attempt to control crime problems involving gangs and drugs. In order to avoid problems of overbroadness and vagueness that plagued earlier similar acts in other cities, the ordinance provided a liberal array of exceptions. Nonetheless, the act was ruled unconstitutional by the United States District Court, District of Columbia, because: it permitted the search, seizure or arrest of juveniles unable to document that they are properly on the street during curfew, and because it violated the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution by drawing an impermissible distinction between juveniles and nonjuveniles. Since this decision, there has been no consensus on the issue of whether nocturnal juvenile curfew statutes can withstand sustained constitutional scrutiny. The United States system of justice cannot permit the State to punish thousands of law-abiding minors in its attempt to control the few who break the law. Strict enforcement of existing criminal statutes is a better solution than a series of statutes designed to rid the streets of all youth. Footnotes