Summer is here, no matter what the calendar says, and that means it’s time for beaches and barbecues — and talk of curfew crackdowns.
Ald. Brian Hopkins reignited those conversations this week, proposing an 8 p.m. curfew downtown for unaccompanied minors, in response to the violent attack on a couple in Streeterville, allegedly beaten by a teenage boy and girl.
But do stricter curfews help decrease crime and keep people safe?
“I think all one has to do is just Google ‘How effective are teen curfews?’ and you’ll find almost all the research indicates they are ineffective at controlling crime,” Jim Wales, president of South Loop Neighbors, told the Sun-Times.
Hopkin’s proposed curfew crackdown would require young people to be off downtown streets two hours earlier than the 10 p.m. citywide curfew that already applies to all those 17 and younger.
“Anyone who claims this doesn’t work has never watched police and community interventionists disperse an unruly crowd of teenagers by announcing an impending curfew enforcement,” the 2nd Ward City Council member told the Sun-Times. “I have watched it unfold as an observer, and I can assure you it works.”
Does it?
A 2016 report published by the nonprofit Campbell Collaboration analyzed thousands of studies on juvenile curfews nationwide and determined that “evidence suggests that juvenile curfews are ineffective at reducing crime and victimization.”
The report also found there was a slight increase in crime during curfew hours and no change in juvenile victimization.
Wales, who also sits on the Grant Park Advisory Board and has a background in law enforcement, said he understands the need to respond to these “horrendous situations.” And he wants violent crime to be addressed, but he cautioned Council members against passing laws that “aren’t necessarily effective in dealing with that problem.”
Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said Thursday he was open to instituting an additional curfew “to ensure that our youth are safe and that our citizens are safe.”
While Snelling would not talk about the potential enforcement of Hopkins’ proposed curfew, he insisted that “very young people should not be out at all hours of the night unaccompanied by an adult.”
In Chicago’s two police districts that include downtown overall crime is slightly down in the Central District and slightly up in the Near North District, compared to the same time last year.
“We’ve seen this in the news where youth have gone down in groups and they get into fights and there are attacks on other people. We don’t want that to happen,” Snelling told reporters at an unrelated event.
‘People just want to come here to have fun’
Rayne Phillips is 15, and he lives downtown.
He says young people should be allowed to enjoy the area just like everyone else.
“People just want to come here to have fun,” Rayne said Thursday evening at Oak Street Beach. “Obviously if someone is bothering people that’s a problem, but if they’re not, people come downtown to have fun and everyone should be able to do that, especially because it’s summer.”
Hopkins’ proposed curfew would affect the city’s Central Business District, which includes the Loop, Streeterville and River North neighborhoods as well as portions of the South and West Loop.
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), who also represents a chunk of that area, “fully supports” Hopkins’ proposal and promoted it in his email to constituents on Friday.
But Ald. Bill Conway (34th), who also represents part of the downtown area, said he did not see why the Central Business District would have a different curfew from the rest of the city, calling Hopkins’ proposal “too early and unnecessary.”
Conway said he would defer such decisions to the police, as they would be the ones to enforce it, which he believes could prove challenging.
Wales also questioned how the department would manage the additional work.
“I think before they start looking at passing additional regulations, what they need to do is start staffing the police at the appropriate level so they can enforce the laws that are already on the books,” Wales said.
Mayor Brandon Johnson was noncommital.
“The Administration continues to engage with City departments and other stakeholders around safety in the Loop and Millennium Park, and will provide updates to curfew policies as they become available,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. “Our utmost priority remains safety in the Central Business District and all throughout the City of Chicago.
Current curfew only two years old
In 2022, the City Council voted to strengthen seldom-enforced citywide curfew laws, shifting to the daily 10 p.m. curfew for everyone 17 and younger. The previous curfew, instituted in 1992, took effect at 11 p.m. and applied to everyone 16 and younger.
Then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot pushed for the change following the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Seandell Holliday during a large gathering near “The Bean” sculpture.
At the time, some City Council members saw the earlier curfew as a violence prevention measure, while others pointed to research indicating it would have the opposite effect.
Youth organizers with GoodKids MadCity and Brighton Park Neighborhood Council called on Lightfoot to reverse the policy, arguing it disproportionately targeted Black and brown children, while offering a free pass to young people attending events like Lollapalooza.
In 2022, Lightfoot also instituted a weekend ban on “unaccompanied minors’’ at Millennium Park. The policy, which prohibits minors from being alone in the park after 6 p.m. Thursday to Sunday, has remained in effect under Johnson and expanded to include Maggie Daley Park, which connects to Millennium through a pedestrian bridge.
Leslie Recht, president of the Grant Park Advisory Council, has called on Johnson and the City Council to reverse the policy without success.
Recht said the facilities at Maggie Daley Park, including the skate ribbon, mini-golf, tennis and pickleball courts, were designed for young people to enjoy.
“We want kids to have something to do that’s positive,” Recht told the Sun-Times. “That’s what the parks are for … Maggie Daley was not built to be a fortress.”
Kyran Quiroga, 17, who lives on the North Side, told the Sun-Times he and his friends come downtown because it’s full of attractions for all ages, not just those over 21.
“If we want to go downtown, we can go downtown,” Kyran said Thursday while at Oak Street Beach. “I just hang out with my friends, we go out to eat.”
“There’s no point for all that if it’s just for adults to go to. It shouldn’t be like that.”
Contributing: Emmanuel Camarillo, Tom Schuba and Cindy Hernandez
