CHICAGO CURFEW DEBATE
It™s 10 o™ clock. Do you know where your children are?
That™s the question Mayor Daley wants to ask Chicago parents under his recent proposal to move the city's curfew ahead a half-hour to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends for children under age 17. He hopes earlier curfews will help reduce youth violence.
But curfews for young people are ineffective tools for reducing youth violence, according to Melissa Sickmund, a senior research associate for the National Center for Juvenile Justice.
“We™ve looked at time-of-day patterns of when kids commit crimes or are victims of crimes,'' Sickmund said, "and the peak time is not at the late hours. It is right after school. So if you want to have a bigger impact in reducing juvenile violence, perhaps something targeting after-school hours would be more efficient.
Many assume that most violence involving young people is committed by strangers out on the street, said Sickmund. But more typically, she said, attacks involve acquaintances rather than strangers. And they often occur after school when children are left unsupervised while their parents are at work, said Sickmund. Children may be drinking or using drugs at that time, behaviors that can lead to violence.
Sickmund also pointed out that many young people simply disregard curfew laws. “The curfew will only make a difference for those kids who are a little bit border-line," she said. "or who are still within the moral frame work of the community. The really bad kids aren™t going to do this at all.
She says that although many U.S. cities have youth curfews and violent crime has decreased in those cities, she doesn't credit curfews for the decline.The drop in violent crimes is a national phenomenon that could be attributed to a number of factors, she said.
The mayor's proposal must first be approved by the City Council's Committee on Police and Fire before it can be voted upon by the full council. The committee has not yet set a date for the vote.
Anthony Pura
17 January 2008
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=74927
