DEPARTMENT: Police, Municipal Court and Department of Human Services
DEPARTMENT HEAD: William P. McManus, Chief of Police
Honorable John Bull, Presiding Judge
Melody Woosley, Human Services Director
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Re-adoption of Youth Curfew Ordinance and Youth Re-engagement Initiative
SUMMARY:
Consideration of San Antonio Police Department's recommendation to re-adopt the Youth Curfew Ordinance with revisions that decriminalizes violations by minors. DHS and Municipal Court also would provide a briefing on a proposed initiative to be used an asset-based intervention for youth violating the curfew ordinance.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The City's current Youth Curfew Ordinance went into effect on June 4, 2015. As required in Section 370.002 of the Texas Local Government Code, municipalities are required to re-adopt the ordinance on every third anniversary of adoption for the purpose of reviewing its effectiveness and conducting public hearings to solicit community feedback. The table below provides information on the number of citations issued in 2017 among responsive Texas cities with youth curfew ordinances:
City
Citations Issued
El Paso
487
Corpus Christi
215
Dallas
271
Austin
Ordinance Allowed to Expire
The purpose of instituting a youth curfew is to minimize the likelihood of youth becoming victims of a crime or participating in illegal activity that negatively impacts the community's quality of life. The current ordinance prohibits unsupervised youths ages 10-16 from public places during school hours: 11:00 p.m. thru 6:00 a.m. every day of the week and Monday thru Friday 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. when school is in session.
The current ordinance allows the following penalties:
* Any minor violating the provisions of this article shall be guilty of a Class C misdemeanor as defined in the Texas Penal Code and shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of V.T.C.A., Family Code tit....
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