In the early 1990s, many American cities used youth curfews to combat juvenile crime, and at the time, civil liberties groups opposed the measures as indiscriminate restrictions on the free movement of innocent and guilty alike ("Young Criminals: Early to Bed"). Curfews have been instituted even more widely since then, with varying results. Curfews are also used to combat specific kinds of problem, as when cities use curfews to address a local gang problem or the prevalence of young drug dealers on streetcorners. Curfew restrictions are popular in some areas and unpopular in others, popular with the older generation and unpopular with the younger. They have been effective in some situations and not in others. An analysis of the issue suggests reasons for the disparity.
Curfew restrictions extend back many years, and one of the reasons why such restrictions are imposed is the juvenile crime rate. In 1955, the U.S. Department of justice reported that the number of criminal offenses committed by juveniles between 1988 and 1992 had increased 26 percent, reaching nearly 1.5 million cases. The largest increase recorded over that period was for crimes against persons, which rose 56 percent. At the same time, criminal homicide increased by 80 percent to account for 2,500 cases in 1992; forcible rape increased by 27 percent to reach 5,400 cases; robbery rose by 52 percent, to 32,900 cases; and aggravated assault rose 80 percent, to 77,900 cases. In 1992, the typical offender was younger than in 1988 so that youths under 16 were responsible for 62 percent of juvenile offenses against persons, 64 percent of property offense cases, and 39 percent of drug offense cases. Currently, according to the Justice Department, if violent juvenile crime increases in the future at rates similar to those of the past decade, it is estimated that by the year 2010 the number of juvenile arrests for a violent crime will more than double, and the ...