Austin votes to end its youth curfew amid racial bias concerns

Austin votes to end its youth curfew amid racial bias concerns

• Texas city becomes second largest in country to drop nighttime ban
• Police chief changes his mind after reviewing data

Austin’s council has voted to end the city’s youth curfew amid concerns that it targets racial minorities and adds to the so-called school-to-prison pipeline.

Despite backing the law earlier this year, Brian Manley, police chief in the liberal Texas city, changed his mind after reviewing data. “My recommendation is to not move forward with the curfew at this point,” Manley told the city council early on Friday.

Manley said that in 14 stops by police of young people in the past three months that involved a curfew infraction, the curfew was not the reason for the initial interaction. “The ordinance did not have any impact on our ability to handle those instances,” he said.

The council also heard from several students who argued the curfew needlessly criminalised young people and unfairly affected minorities, and voted not to renew it when it expires on 1 October.

Austin’s curfew was introduced in 1990 in an attempt to reduce the juvenile crime rate. It applied both at night and during school days. In June, the council ended the daytime restriction but extended the nighttime curfew until October, with a new “three-strikes” citation policy. It banned under-17s from being outside from 11pm to 6am, with some exceptions – such as being accompanied by a parent or being in front of their house.

Violators faced being charged with a misdemeanour and receiving a $500 fine. Austin police issued 529 daytime violations and 157 nighttime violations in 2016, mostly to 15- or 16-year-olds in some of the least affluent parts of the city, according to a report. It found that black and Hispanic youths were cited disproportionately: black people comprised 17% of nighttime and 15% of daytime violations but made up only 8% of the population.

Long a part of American life, curfews came back into fashion in the 90s when then president Bill Clinton advocated for them as part of his tough-on-crime stance. “These are just like the old-fashioned rules most of us had when we were kids – ‘When the lights come on, be home, Bill,’” he said in a 1996 speech.

Since the mid-90s, millions of teenagers have been arrested for violating curfews.

Austin, the US’s 11th-biggest city, will be the largest without a juvenile curfew after New York City (which has an age restriction that applies only to drivers: junior learner permit holders are not allowed to drive between 9pm and 5am).

Curfew supporters argue they help reduce the numbers of young people committing crimes and becoming victims, and point to falling crime rates. Critics counter that declining rates are part of a wider trend and cite studies indicating that curfews are not effective.

There are also concerns that criminalising young people sets them up for problems in later life, such as difficulties finding a job. Truancy was a criminal offence in Texas that saw more than 100,000 students cited annually until the state revised its law on unauthorised absences in 2015.

“Kids who are breaking curfew aren’t necessarily doing anything else wrong. Having them be put in the back of a police car and detained, or just the interaction with law enforcement, can change the way they think about themselves or the trajectory they think they’re on,” said Jennifer Doleac, an assistant professor of public policy and economics at the University of Virginia.

Doleac co-wrote a paper which found that Washington’s juvenile curfew caused an increase in gunfire, probably because deserted streets are less safe than busy ones and enforcing curfews may distract police from other tasks.

“As we try to find ways to improve the relationship between communities of colour and law enforcement this is exactly the kind of policy that people worry about,” she said. “I think most of them are based on this gut feeling that most people have that there’s no reason for people to be out that late. But sometimes there are good reasons … I hope that more cities follow Austin’s lead.”