CLEVELAND — Parents could soon pay a bigger price for their children who break curfew in Cleveland, after an amendment to the city’s curfew ordinance passed the Cleveland City Council's Safety Committee.
During that meeting, city councilmembers also called on patrol officers to enforce the curfew, which includes restrictions for how late youth can be out on sidewalks, streets and in public spaces.
- Ages 12 and under: Dark
- Ages 13-14: 9:30 p.m.-6 a.m.
- Ages 15-16: 11 p.m.-6 a.m.
- Age 17: Midnight-6 a.m.
The amended ordinance would increase the penalty for a parent or guardian who “has a duty to supervise the minor.” First-time violators would face a 4th degree misdemeanor; up to a $250 fine and up to 30 days in jail. A second-time offender would face a 3rd degree misdemeanor; up to a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail. If the parent can’t pay, they would be required to perform community service.
“We need a proactive approach of dealing with juvenile violence in this city,” Councilman Mike Polensek said.
The public safety committee chair argues the city needs this change to help curb the car thefts and violent crime that youth were often behind over the summer.
“I’m done with it. I’m done dealing with this element who wants to terrorize our neighborhoods, but yet, the parents aren’t held accountable. The party’s over! The game is over! You want children? Be responsible for them,” he said.
But not everyone agrees that fines are the answer to keeping kids off the streets and out of trouble.
“How do we invest in communities so people don’t feel like violence is their only option?” said Myesha Watkins said.
Watkins is with Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance. She worries fines will hurt families already struggling financially and in other ways.
“Put that money into community organizations to serve as a diversion opportunity to connect them to people and programs,” she said.
Watkins also worried the citations could make things worse in some homes.
“Because a parent can say, ‘my child has three tickets. They can’t come here anymore. They can’t live here anymore’ and now they’re in the streets and in community.’”
As the public safety committee reviewed the amendments, Councilwoman Stephanie Howse-Jones proposed an additional amendment that includes a root cause analysis and a way for families and youth to be connected to services that meet their needs.
“I feel like this is something that we should be doing in our system already. It is not good enough to say, ‘hey, no you need to be punished,’” Howse-Jones said. “We really need to understand, well what is happening? Why are you doing what you’re doing? And what can we do together to correct the behavior?”
The committee passed the amendments during their meeting Wednesday. It now goes to the full council during their Monday meeting.
“We’re attempting to say again very clearly, ‘Parent, be responsible for your children. Be responsible for your children. Know where they’re at in the middle of the night.’ I don’t think that’s too much to ask,” Councilman Polensek said.
“At the end of the day we want the behaviors to be corrected. And we want to help and support families that may be in crisis that just aren’t on our radar to get the support that they need so our young people and our families can be safe. Neighborhoods can be viable. That’s what we want to see,” councilwoman Howse-Jones said.
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