For a little background, you can find the current curfew laws in Chicago in the Chicago Municipal Code Chapter 8-16 section 020 known as "Curfew hours for minors". You can access the code here. I recommend that you check out the code for fun if you live in the Chicago by the way. Ok, maybe it would only be "fun" for a lawyer, but still interesting nonetheless.
So according to the Code:
(1) “Curfew hours” means:These rules apply to minors, or any person under 17 years of age.
(A) 10:00 p.m. on any Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday until 6:00 a.m. of the following day; and
(B) 11:00 p.m. on any Friday or Saturday and until 6:00 a.m. of the following day.
These laws will stay in effect, but now a stricter curfew law will go into effect in September for children under the age of 12 that makes the curfew 8:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9:00 p.m. on weekends. Children between the ages of 12-16 still have to abide by the original curfew law stated above.
Personally I think it's a great idea, since I don't believe kids under the age of 12 really have any business being outside after 8:30 p.m. on a weekday. But of course, this probably depends what the kids are doing outside and what neighborhood the kids live in. Not to mention what they're doing outside.
You have to remember that these curfew laws only apply when a minor is unaccompanied by an adult, and there are of course several defenses to these laws. Such as when the child is:
(A) Accompanied by the minor’s parent or guardian; (B) On an errand at the direction of the minor’s parent or guardian, without any detour or stop; (C) In a motor vehicle involved in interstate travel; (D) Engaged in an employment activity, or going to or returning home from an employment activity, without any detour or stop; (E) Involved in an emergency; (F) On the sidewalk abutting the minor’s residence or abutting the residence of a next-door neighbor if the neighbor did not complain to the police department about the minor’s presence; (G) Attending an official school, religious, or other recreational activity supervised by adults and sponsored by the city, a civic organization, or another similar entity that takes responsibility for the minor, or going to or returning home from, without any detour or stop, an official school, religious, or other recreational activity supervised by adults and sponsored by the city, a civic organization, or another similar entity that takes responsibility for the minor; (H) Exercising First Amendment rights protected by the United States Constitution, such as the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, and the right of assembly; or (I) Married or had been married or is an emancipated minor under the Emancipation of Mature Minors Act, as amended.Those are a LOT of defenses. But you also have to know that the parents are liable only if they "knowingly" permit a child to be violating the curfew, so no liability if your kids "sneaks" out. Interestingly as well, owners, operators or employees of an establishment are also subject to the law if they knowingly allow a minor to remain on their premises during curfew hours. Well I could see how that could be a problem.
And what about the defense that if the child is "on an errand on the direction of a parent or guardian" then it's ok that he/she is outside? So if the parent sends the kid to the liquor store/convenience store on the corner to get chips and a pop at 10:00 p.m. at night unaccompanied then there's no problem???
And then we have the fines that will be ridiculously hard to enforce against a likely poor parent to start with:
(e) Penalties. A person who violates a provision of this chapter is guilty of a separate offense for each day or part of a day during which the violation is committed, continued, or permitted. Each offense, upon conviction, is punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.00.
Let's see some scenarios:
Scenario #1:
A child is at a 7-11 store at 10:00 p.m. The child appears to be maybe 12-13 (but you can't be sure of course) and is buying some gum. The store owner sells him the gum. Then the police raid his store and arrest him for knowingly permitting a minor to be in his store after curfew. Well it seems very hard to prove that the store owner knew the child was a minor, since most minors don't have any forms of identification showing their age. So I'm not all that worried for the store owner's liability in this scenario. But what does this mean for store owners? Do they have to ask a child who appears to be under 12 for an ID after curfew hours? Should he call the police? What if the child is on an "errand" which is a clear defense to the statute? What if the child's parents are just outside and he is not unaccompanied? What a mess.
Scenario #2:
A hard working single mom is at work during the night shift and leaves a few of her kids between the ages of 10-12 at home with say, their grandmother. The grandmother goes to sleep at 8:30 p.m. and the kids go outside to play just down the block (remember one of the exceptions is that they are in front of their house or a neighbor's house and they aren't causing trouble). A police officer sees them and takes them into custody for violating the curfew laws. Is anyone liable here? What about the grandmother who fell asleep? Or the mother at work? I suppose you could argue there was no "knowledge" about the kids being outside, but how many times do police officers have to take small children into custody before it's clear that they are not being watched? And do we really want police officers in our busy crime-filled city to become baby-sitters for these unattended children?
There are many more scenarios I can come up, but I think it's clear that the new curfew laws clearly do NOT address the real problem here: BAD PARENTING.
All parents should know where their children are at all times and should be home with their kids every night or have a responsible care giver with their children. But we know that just isn't the case. So is the solution to fine irresponsible parents who probably can't pay anyway? Some people may think so, but I sense that enforcement of this law will be sketchy at best.
A police officer friend recently commented to me that the curfew laws give the police officers a good reason to investigate young kids who are unsupervised and could be getting into trouble- and that is important. I agree with this and I do hope the laws make a positive difference.
1-year-old girl shot in head in South Chicago
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-one-hurt-in-south-chicago-shooting-20110823,0,2978813.storyIncident date and time: Tue. 8-23-11 @ 8:11 a.m.
This case was especially sad since my daughter is also one. Luckily she didn't die, but she's in critical condition. She was outside walking a dog with her aunt early in the morning when she as caught in cross-fire. While this didn't happen during curfew hours it still involves a small child.
Boy, 14, shot dead execution-style in Austin neighborhood
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-boy-14-killed-in-west-side-shooting-20110821,0,3466214.storyIncident date and time: Sun. 8-21-11 @ 2:00 p.m.
This boy, according to police was affiliated with a street gang. Again, this occurred during broad day light.
6-year-old killed, two hurt in Englewood shooting
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-6yearold-killed-two-hurt-in-englewood-shooting-20110807,0,6912832.story
Incident date and time: Sun. 8-7-11 @ 6:00 a.m.
Well this little girl was INSIDE either her own home or a family member's home when someone walked up to the house and fired shots into the living room window ...Nothing that a curfew law would have helped. But the real problem was a 17 year old who allegedly entered the home around 4 a.m. Again, over the age of those targeted by the new curfew laws.
16 year old shot dead
There were no other details available for this story (that just goes to show how common this violence is). Just that he was found shot dead with multiple gunshot wounds to his body. Incident date and time: Sun 8-7-11 @ 12:35 a.m.
Boy, 13, gunned down playing basketball: 'He died doing what he loved to do'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-boy-13-critically-injured-in-bronzeville-neighborhood-shooting-20110803,0,782518.story
Incident date and time: Wed. 8-3-11 @ 5:30 p.m.
Incident date and time: Wed. 8-3-11 @ 5:30 p.m.
This was also an especially sad story since the boy was just playing basketball at a neighborhood park when he was shot in what appears to be a drive by shooting. Once again, in broad day light.
That makes FIVE shootings and FOUR homicides of children under the age of 16 in the month of August alone here in Chicago!
This has been a particular sad month for children in Chicago.
For more homicide statistics see the Red Eye Homicide Tracker here: http://homicides.redeyechicago.com.
For more homicide statistics see the Red Eye Homicide Tracker here: http://homicides.redeyechicago.com.
I really had a point to this blog post when I started. I wanted to talk about the curfew law, enforcement issues and the fines. But I ended up being depressed by the number of children affected by gun violence in this city. By the way, I believe all the victims from predominantly low-income minority neighborhoods. But that is a whole other blog post.
So while stricter curfews for minors seem to be a great idea I think they miss the mark in actually helping save young lives. Only time will tell if they will make some kind of difference.
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