NCJ Number
190593
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2001 Pages: 197-214
Date Published
September 2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the impact of a juvenile curfew on different racial groups.
Abstract
During the 1990's, the United States experienced a rise in the popularity of nocturnal juvenile curfews as a method of crime prevention. Research has not found curfews to be particularly effective in achieving their goals, and concerns have been raised about discriminatory enforcement. This study examined the implementation of a juvenile curfew in a large southern city, Charlotte, North Carolina, and its impact on different racial groups. Data were collected from police reporting forms. The background characteristics of curfew violators mirrored those of juvenile offenders in general, and different types of violators were cited in different areas of town. However, although the curfew had a positive, or at least a neutral, effect on some offenders, it had an escalation effect on Asian and Hispanic youth. The study observed that for the group arrested both prior to and after their curfew violation, curfew citations may signal youth who were already embedded in a criminal lifestyle at an early age. It suggested that effective intervention with those troublesome youth will require a coordinated multiagency approach. Tables, notes, references