They had just finished their date when they were attacked and told they didn’t belong downtown.
“We own the street. You can’t walk around,” a woman told Fox32 Chicago a group of young people said while beating her and her husband near Grand Avenue and McClurg Court recently. The victim, who was pepper-sprayed and took some blows to her abdomen, ended up suffering a miscarriage, adding another excruciating layer to her emotional and physical trauma.
Several of the culprits were able to run away, except for a 14-year-old boy accused of striking the male victim in the head and a 17-year-old girl who allegedly pulled the woman’s hair out.
It’s no wonder Ald. Brian Hopkins, whose 2nd Ward includes the Streeterville neighborhood where the May 31 assaults took place, is outraged. The two teenage suspects were charged with misdemeanor battery. Hopkins and other Chicagoans are rightly frustrated over the brazen lawlessness that takes place in all parts of the city, including downtown — popularly believed, albeit erroneously, to be a crime-free haven in the past.
Attacks, gun violence, sexual assault, robberies and other crimes — none of that should be tolerated in any neighborhood.
But as Hopkins aired his legitimate concerns about the attack last week, he was quick to offer a solution that research has shown is largely ineffective: a stricter teen curfew.
That kind of sweeping get-tough action collectively punishes good kids for the actions of lawbreakers and won’t deter those determined to cause problems, no matter what time of day. And in the end, it sends a message to teenagers similar to what the assailants told the young couple: “You can’t walk around.”
Hopkins, taking a page out of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s playbook from two years back, has proposed banning teenagers from the Central Business District and the downtown area after 8 p.m. without the supervision of an adult. After 16-year-old Seandell Holliday was shot to death and other mayhem broke out near “The Bean,” Lightfoot in May 2022 immediately issued an executive order prohibiting minors 16 and under from entering Millennium Park without an adult after 6 p.m., Thursdays through Sundays. The City Council later approved rolling back the citywide curfew for children 17 and younger from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m. Both mandates remain in effect.
Studies show youth curfews have been ineffective in reducing crime among young people and end up disproportionately targeting youth of color.
“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 Sun-Times reporter Sophie Sherry.
Our city should focus on creating and investing in programs to keep youth out of trouble, instead of relying on policies that can lead to racial profiling and worsen the distrust of police among Black and Brown young people. That’s not coddling criminals, as some might think — it’s following the research.
Besides, should police really be asked to spend their time rounding up curfew violators who aren’t breaking any other laws, instead of focusing on those engaged in crime, no matter their age?
Along with violence in their communities and mental health issues, students participating in After School Matters programs across the city said a lack of resources and idleness are among the biggest challenges they face, according to Melissa Mister, the nonprofits’ chief of strategy and staff.
When children feel properly supported through quality programs, “they really do strive and thrive,” something Mister said she has witnessed with After School Matters participants. Data suggests After School Matters teens are two times more likely than their peers to graduate high school and one-and-a-half times more likely to enroll in college.
Ensuring teens are engaged is a more constructive public safety strategy than outlawing them from public spaces. “Simply put,” as a Coalition for Juvenile Justice intern wrote last year, “youth curfew laws are a temporary fix to a very extensive issue.”
Hopkins, in a statement, acknowledged that not all teenagers who gather downtown have “ill intentions.”
Last year, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who could never be mistaken for a progressive, signed a law that blocked cities and counties in the state from creating and enforcing youth curfews, except in an emergency.
If the kids are going to be all right, adults have to get past quick fix, knee-jerk reactions.
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