But Fox said that, in most cases, a curfew's effect on crime is so small that he doesn't think it is worth the resources expended on it. They make crime go down a very little bit. Gardner, the mother from Pimlico Parkway, doesn't care what the experts say. 289 citations Lexington's curfew law, established in April 1995, says juveniles must not be outside after 11 p.m. on weekdays and 1 a.m. on weekends. However, there are about a dozen loopholes.
Juveniles attending school events or on their way home, for example, are exempt.
Although 1,079 juveniles have been caught violating the city curfew since 1995, only 289 parents have been cited, records compiled by the Herald-Leader show. Walsh said most parents are not cited, because a warning is sufficient to get most people to obey the law. Katherine Hester said her husband, Henry Hester, was cited for a curfew violation last year when their son, who was 17 at the time, was caught after curfew, smoking in the parking lot of Henry Clay High School. He was supposed to be on his way home. Most violators are picked up near shopping centers and city parks on the county's south side.