Baltimore’s Juvenile Curfew: Evaluating Effectiveness

Juvenile curfew statutes are used in hundreds of cities across the United States to prevent juvenile offending and victimization. In spite of their popularity, there is disagreement in the existing literature as to whether juvenile curfews are truly effective. The current study assesses the effectiveness of a change in the juvenile curfew statutes in Baltimore, MD. Data consist of police arrest records for the months preceding and following the curfew change. Regression analyses address both change in arrest totals and change in the ratio of youth to adult arrests and the ratio of arrests within curfew hours to outside of curfew hours. Results indicate an increase in the ratio of youth to adult arrests during curfew hours. However, arrest totals were decreasing overall at the time of the curfew change. Implications for further investigation are discussed.