In Dallas, however, police found that the majority of teen crimes were being committed between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., the hours of the weekly curfew the City Council had proposed in 1991. Numerous court challenges prevented the police from enforcing it until 1994, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Fifth Circuit ruling, said assistant chief Marlin Price. Opponents say curfews are necessarily discriminatory toward poor and minority teens, but Price said the police have seen no evidence of that problem. Police spend more time warning children to go home than actually arresting them. We've seen a lot of voluntary compliance because it gives parents an authoritative basis for what children believe is an arbitrary decision.
Price believes the curfew solves more problems than programs can.
Many city officials, however, refuse to choose between the two approaches, seeking to combine curfews with more teen involvement. In Portland, Ore., where the curfew is a year old, the police department is setting up a youth board based on the New Haven model. In Tacoma, Wash., the Tacoma Curfew Advocacy Project is run by youth workers. With the help of the Boys and Girls Club, project workers started four late-night activities programs that work to complement the curfew. With law enforcement's sanction, the city also has 15 youth centers running events until midnight.