Chicago activists want support for teens, not ‘snap’ curfews

A proposed ordinance in Chicago would grant police the authority to declare “snap” curfews anytime, anywhere in the city in response to so-called “teen takeover” gatherings.” Educators and lawyers say it would not solve problems, as claimed, would be potentially unconstitutional, and would discriminate against Black and other minority youth.

The ordinance would allow Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling to declare a curfew with just 30 minutes notice. Those found in violation would be subject to a fine or community service.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and other organizations have criticized the ordinance, citing how Chicago Police disproportionately arrested Black people during a curfew in 2020, as well as concerns over due process violations.

Under the way in which the ordinance is currently presented, it’s “almost impossible” for someone to know when and where a snap curfew would be enforced, said Ed Yohnka, the director of communications for ACLU Illinois, in a May 5 interview with People’s World.

“How do I follow the law, which is my goal, if I don’t know where and when the law is going to be put in place?” Yohnka said. “It feels like a lot of this is just the idea of being a deterrent; to deter people from coming into some parts of the city.”

On April 30, a planned vote on the ordinance was delayed by the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety after an hours-long discussion. The committee is scheduled to meet again on May 20.

“When I even first heard about this proposed ordinance for the teen curfew, to me it was just instantly like we’re going to do all these things to punish kids and possibly lock up kids and arrest kids, instead of investing in kids,” said Dave Stieber, who’s been a Chicago Public Schools teacher for the last 18 years.

Stieber said he and other teachers have encouraged students not to take part in teen takeovers and said he doesn’t excuse “bad choices” by minors. But he said incidents like teen takeovers have been around for years, and the city hasn’t provided enough resources for young people.

Harmfulness of negative talk

“It’s just frustrating and redundant and really harmful to hear these negative things over and over again, and then see no one investing in students,” Stieber said. “Educators demand more for their schools and parents demand more for their communities to be ignored, but then instantly it’s like, ‘Okay, cool, we’re gonna lock them up and arrest them

Teen takeovers – also referred to as “trends” – are large gatherings of minors in public areas organized via social media. Such gatherings have previously led to violence.

In March, a 46-year-old tourist was shot and injured amid a teen takeover in Streeterville that included dozens of teens allegedly fighting and shoplifting. Later that month, a 15-year-old boy suffered a graze wound to his leg in a shooting at another teen takeover.

Alderman Brian Hopkins, who is the chair of the Committee of Public Safety, wrote in a newsletter that the problem was More than just “Silly kids doing silly things.” He introduced the ordinance on April 16. Those found in violation would have 30 minutes to disperse or be picked up by a parent or guardian, or risk a $250 fine and face required community service.”

The ordinance would allow the police superintendent to declare a curfew “for the applicable public places anticipated to be affected by such mass gatherings.” The ordinance defines a mass gathering as a group of 20 or more people at a public space for the “purpose of engaging in, or that is likely to result in, criminal conduct, including reckless conduct.”

“Essentially, they are declaring martial law in a particular area; they’re either clearing it or containing it,” said David Stovall, PhD, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), who teaches in the departments of Black Studies and Criminology, Law and Justice.

Stovall said the rhetoric used to describe teen takeovers is a “direct parallel” to that of the “super-predator” hysteria in the 1990s. Using racially-coded language, criminologists incorrectly predicted the number of juveniles in custody would increase threefold by 2010, thanks to a wave of what they called “radically impulsive, brutally remorseless” young people.

Stovall compared the ordinance proposal to anti-loitering legislation in the 1990s, in which a Chicago Police officer could order someone he “reasonably believes” is a gang member to disperse an area if they are “loitering” with one or more persons.

“The idea was if there were three people on the street and one person was a quote, unquote ‘known gang member,’ then all three people could be sequestered, arrested, and detained,” Stovall said.

In City of Chicago v. Morales (1999), the Supreme Court ruled the anti-loitering ordinance violated people’s due process rights for being “so vague and standardless that it left people uncertain as to the conduct it prohibits.”

ACLU Illinois, the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago, and several other organizations penned an open letter last week criticizing the snap curfew proposal. Along with concerns over due process violations, the letter questioned the effectiveness of curfews in general.

They cite a 2016 study by the Campbell Collaboration that determined curfews are “ineffective at reducing crime and victimization,” and juvenile crime was found to slightly increase during curfew hours.

Concerned about racist enforcement

The organizations are also concerned about racist enforcement. While Black people represent less than a third of Chicago’s population, more than 3 out of 4 people arrested during the 2020 curfew were Black.

“It appears to be a curfew which is targeted mainly at Black and brown kids and suggesting that they do not belong in certain parts of our city,” Yohnka said. “And I think just the message that sends, the demonization of young people, is the kind of thing that is really troubling.”

Yohnka also questioned the necessity of a snap curfew.

“The Chicago Police Department already has more than ample powers to deal with large crowds of people,” Yohnka said. “And the way we know that is because they do it all the time.”

Yohnka said Chicago Police manage dozens of large-scale events every year, such as Lollapalooza, the NASCAR Chicago Street Race, professional sports games, and more.

“They do all of these crowd measures, they’re able to control these crowds, but suddenly one group of people requires this special force that criminalizes people being in a certain area at a certain time,” Yohnka said.

Stovall emphasized greater job and recreational opportunities for minors as a more holistic way to address teen takeovers than just punitive measures. Stieber called for more accessible opportunities for young people in the city.

“Youth spaces and neighborhood clubs, some neighborhoods are fortunate enough to have an actual safe space for kids to be,” Stieber said. “In a gym, doing art classes or cooking classes, stuff like that could also be downtown.”

“People complain about empty storefronts that are in certain places downtown,” Stieber said. “Let’s turn that into a place where teens can come in the evening and feel welcomed and valued; do poetry, make music, there could be a gym in the back, and they can work out and play. Just really reimagining who downtown is for.”

Yohnka also emphasized the importance of addressing the “root causes” of these issues and noted that proposals such as Alderman Hopkins’ are hardly new.

“Every spring when the weather gets warm, there is some proposal for something to target kids who are coming downtown,” Yohnka said.

“Somehow we always see the proposal for policing… we never get to the moment when we’re actually going to do the hard work of trying to build up opportunities in the community. If we’re serious about addressing this, we go to the root causes and not constantly trying to treat the symptoms.”