Parents whose children are out unattended past Cleveland's curfew may soon face higher penalties, including fine hikes and potential jail time.
Ward 8 City Councilmember Mike Polensek proposed legislation at Wednesday's marathon city council meeting that would increase the charging levels in cases brought against parents and guardians whose kids break curfew.
City law currently prohibits children under 18 from being in public spaces without a legal guardian at certain times of night based on their age. But Polensek, who chairs the safety committee, said that policy isn’t effective as is and wants to raise the penalty for parents whose children break curfew.
“To have 12 and 13-year-old kids out at 3, 4 o’clock in the morning, where are the parents? Where are the guardians?” he said in an interview Wednesday.
The newly proposed legislation, which will be considered by Cleveland City Council later this fall, would raise the penalty for parents whose children break the city-imposed curfew from a minor misdemeanor to a fourth-degree misdemeanor, increasing the maximum fine of $100 to $250 for a first offense. A conviction on that elevated charge could carry up to 30 days in jail.
"There has to be a cost because there's a cost to our community," Polensek said.
Juvenile curfews are a popular method to address crime in big cities across the country. In 2009, 84% of cities with populations over 180,000 had curfew laws. But some municipalities are now doing away with them entirely. Texas implemented a statewide ban on juvenile curfews that will take effect in September, citing research that showed restrictions did not affect youth victimization.
Clevelanders have experienced a wave of violent crime this summer that city leaders have called "unprecedented."
Violence in Cleveland burst into the public eye after nine people were injured in a mass shooting on West 6th Street Downtown in July. While that shooting, which made national news, was the most high-profile act of violence in the city this year, many residents have reported feelings of living under the threat of growing brutality.
The number of homicides in the city is up about 20% compared to the same time last year, according to police records. As of Saturday, 111 people had been killed in Cleveland this year. Last year at this time, there had been 91 homicides. The number of robberies, felonious assaults, thefts and arsons is also up compared to last year.
The number of grand thefts of motor vehicles is up nearly 90%, the data shows.
A lot of gun violence and crime is enacted in his neighborhood and others in Cleveland by unaccompanied youth late at night, Polensek said. The increased penalties, he added, are intended to “send a message” and hold guardians responsible.
“You want to have children, be responsible for them,” he added.
But the real issue, according to Polensek, is enforcing the curfew policy, which he says the city is not doing.
A spokesperson for Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb disagreed.
"Officers are enforcing the law," the spokesperson said. "We support efforts aimed at curbing the violence affecting our city. We will review the proposals to see if they will have those intended effects."
But Polensek said the state of violence in Cleveland has reached a fever pitch that needs to be addressed immediately, especially as the city struggles to recruit new police officers.
“Are we going to arrest our way out of the problem? No… but this inaction has been built up for God knows how long,” he said. “You start by reclaiming the streets.”
