NCJ Number
168891
Date Published
1997
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This document contains the results of a 347-city survey on youth curfews.
Abstract
This report updates a 1995 survey on youth curfews and provides additional information on curfew effectiveness. Mayors and officials of 347 cities with a population over 30,000 were asked for information on: (1) the use of both daytime and nighttime curfews; (2) perceptions of whether curfew enforcement is a good use of police officers' time; (3) perceptions of whether curfews make streets safer at night, cut down on daytime truancy; (4) effectiveness of curfew enforcement in curbing gang violence or gang activities; (5) increases or decreases in crime rates since curfews have been in effect; (6) police department costs associated with curfew enforcement; (7) problems encountered in implementing curfews; and (8) constitutional challenges to curfews. Among the findings: 247 cities said that enforcing a curfew is a good use of police officers' time while 26 cities said it is not; 257 said a nighttime curfew is a useful tool for police officers, 19 said it is not; and 236 cities said that curfew enforcement helps to make streets safer for residents. The report contains cities' responses in the eight areas covered by the survey; and alphabetical lists, by State, of survey cities that have a curfew, with the types of curfew in each city, and of survey cities that do not have a curfew.