Cincinnati Youth Curfews Less Enforced, Data Reveals

The Evolution of Cincinnati's Youth Curfew

As Cincinnati city leaders explore new methods to enforce the curfew for young people who stay out too late, a review of data has revealed that police across Hamilton County have been filing fewer curfew violations over the past 25 years. This decline in enforcement highlights a significant shift in how the city approaches youth curfew policies.

The number of juveniles referred to juvenile court reached its peak in 2000 with 619 violations and has continued to decrease since then. In 2024, there were only 79 cited curfew violations across the county. Over the eight years where jurisdiction-level data is available, Cincinnati police accounted for roughly a third of all curfew violations filed. In 2022, the most recent year with available data, Cincinnati police issued 46 curfew violations.

Since its introduction in the mid-90s, Cincinnati has maintained a curfew for individuals under 16 after 10 p.m. and for those aged 16 to 18 after midnight. This means that youth are not allowed to be unaccompanied in public after these hours. Enforcement of the curfew has fluctuated over time, according to previous reports by The Enquirer. Officers in the early 2000s used to conduct curfew sweeps that sometimes resulted in over 100 youth being picked up in a single night.

Why Are Fewer Curfew Violations Being Filed?

Enforcing the current curfew presents challenges, as city officials have acknowledged. During a special meeting of City Council on July 23, City Manager Sheryl Long mentioned that they are exploring ways to make it easier to enforce the curfew. One potential factor contributing to the decline in violations is how the cases are handled in juvenile court.

Prior to 2022, a curfew violation was considered an "unruly charge" in the eyes of the court. According to Hamilton County Juvenile Court spokeswoman Kelly Leon, if a child had a second curfew violation, they would be in violation of the court order not to violate curfew, allowing the court to hear the case officially. However, by 2022, a nationwide change led to a reduction in criminally charging minors for repeat violations of ordinances that aren't against the law for adults.

Long emphasized that if the curfew is enforced again, it won’t involve arresting children. When asked during the City Council meeting whether children in violation of the curfew would be charged with a crime, Long stated she didn’t have the answer yet and was working with the legal department.

Reintroducing Curfew Centers

Part of Long’s plan involves reintroducing curfew centers where the city could take minors who are out too late. These centers would provide a safe place for the youth until their parents could come and retrieve them. Curfew centers are not a new concept; Cincinnati had similar centers in the 1990s. Initially, the plan involved extending hours at recreation centers in Evanston and Price Hill, with curfew violators brought to the centers, staffed by recreation workers and a Cincinnati police officer.

However, criticism from city police regarding the costly monitoring of the curfew centers and the fact that fewer than 4% of juveniles picked up on curfew violations were brought there led to their closure. Later, after an increase in gun violence in the summer of 2015, the idea resurfaced. Then-Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell proposed a plan involving enforcing the youth curfew and opening curfew centers in Districts 4 and 5. This plan was later revised, removing the curfew centers due to community concerns.

Ensuring Fair Enforcement

Long explained that the newly proposed curfew centers wouldn’t be located at recreation centers, as she doesn’t want children to associate them with negative experiences. During discussions about the curfew at the city council meeting, Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney pointed out that when the curfew has been enforced in the past, residents have complained about uneven enforcement across neighborhoods.

"If we do it, we’ll have to do it consistently and fairly across all neighborhoods," she said. This sentiment underscores the importance of equitable enforcement if the curfew is to be reintroduced effectively.