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Purpose
To provide information and resources to those interested in
challenging juvenile curfew laws in their communities, and to keep citizens in
this community aware of any new developments in our ongoing efforts to challenge
our local curfew ordinances.
General Background
In 1997, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Nunez v San Diego that the
San Diego juvenile curfew ordinance was unconstitutional on numerous grounds.
Since San Diego's ordinance was a fairly typical curfew ordinance, the effect of
that ruling was to render most juvenile curfew ordinances in the western states
(the 9th Circuit's jurisdiction) unconstitutional. As of this writing,
Nunez v
San Diego is in full force -- any juvenile curfew ordinance in the western
states which does not comply with that ruling exists in violation of the law.
In response to Nunez v San Diego, the municipalities effected took a variety of actions: some rewrote their ordinances to fully comply with decision, some dropped their curfew ordinances altogether, many rewrote their ordinances in an attempt to evade the ruling, and a few (notably Sacramento, which was specifically mentioned in the ruling) chose to simply ignore the ruling.
At this time, a substantial portion of minors and their parents are subject to juvenile curfew ordinances which are in blatant violation of the 9th Circuit ruling.
Specific Background
In 2003 a group of us in Citrus Heights (Northern California) attempted to have the
city either drop its curfew ordinance or to draft a new ordinance that was in
compliance with the Nunez decision. After an initially favorable response
to our request, the process deteriorated and the city ultimate adopted an
ordinance which was only cosmetically different from the original ordinance and
which contained most of the constitutional defects of the original.
Details
Last Updated: 08/15/2004