The City Council of Independence, Missouri, voted on Monday, April 16, to adopt an ordinance that creates a harsh daytime curfew and punishes violators.
Daytime curfews violate the fundamental rights of minors and their parents.
Home schooling residents of Independence will find this curfew burdensome. But the city's daytime curfew may have a further reaching impact-anyone with children who visits or passes through Independence during the daytime curfew hours runs the risk of having their children apprehended by the police. The right to freely move about or walk where one wishes in public areas is a fundamental constitutional right, even for children. There is no evidence of which we are aware that daytime curfews significantly reduce juvenile crime during curfew hours. Statistics demonstrate that there is very little juvenile crime during these hours even when there is no daytime curfew.