Dallas City Council Must Reject Juvenile Curfew Ordinance, Work Towards True Alternatives

DALLAS, TX — Tonight, the Texas Civil Rights Project issued a vote recommendation to the Dallas City Council members urging them to vote “NO” on Addendum Item 28 which would reinstate and allow the Dallas Juvenile Curfew Ordinance to remain in effect. The Council will meet tomorrow to to vote on the Addendum.

TCRP, along with dozens of other organizations and concerned community members, have argued that the existing Juvenile Curfew Ordinance undermines community trust in police, undermines the rights of parents, and needlessly funnels young people, particularly young people of color, into the criminal justice system. Indeed, youth of color are unfairly overrepresented in ticketing for Curfew violations — Black and Latino youth receive about 88 percent of citations, even though Black and Latino people make up about 65 percent of the city’s population.

Meagan Harding, Senior Staff Attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, released the following statement:

“Tomorrow, the Dallas City Council has an opportunity to join the growing number of cities across the state that have rejected policies that destroy community trust and discriminate against people of color or allow ‘stop-and-frisk’ to continue against the city’s youth. We urge Dallas City Council members to listen to their community members and vote NO on continuing the destructive and harmful Juvenile Curfew Ordinance.”