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Indianapolis Star
17-07-2025
- Indianapolis Star
New Indy youth curfew would include fine for parents. Here's how much
A stricter youth curfew in Marion County — with fines up to $7,500 for parents of violators — has moved one step closer to becoming law in Indianapolis. An Indianapolis City-County Council committee voted unanimously July 16 to make the youth curfew two hours earlier, meaning children ages 15-17 won't be allowed in public unsupervised past 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and past 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays. Children under 15 will face a 9 p.m. curfew every day. But the stricter curfew won't take effect until after a full council vote Aug. 11 and will remain in place for only 120 days, at which point the council will decide whether to extend or relax the policy. Until then, including during this weekend's busy WNBA All-Star festivities, Indianapolis police will enforce the state law that sets youth curfews two hours later. This weekend, police will debut a downtown site where officers will take kids who violate curfew and connect them with their parents or guardians. The change comes after hundreds of unsupervised teens lingered downtown in the hours following the Fourth of July fireworks show, culminating in a mass shooting after midnight that killed Xavion Jackson, 16, and Azareaon S. Cole, 15. Two other teens and three adults were also injured. The curfew ordinance doesn't create a criminal offense for children, but it does grant police the authority to detain them. The policy allows several exceptions for kids who are returning home from work, a school activity or a religious event, among others. The only possible penalty is fining the parents or guardians of repeat violators up to $2,500 for a first offense and up to $7,500 for a second offense, according to council attorney Brandon Beeler. The council doesn't have the authority to require mandatory parenting classes as previously discussed, said Leroy Robinson, chair of the Public Safety Committee, which passed the new proposal. Multiple councilors, particularly council Republicans, said they support harsh penalties for parents or guardians who neglect to look after their children. "We don't want to make this punitive for the children particularly, we want to help them," Democratic Councilor Dan Boots said. "But we've tried various things for decades, and we're still having a big problem. "Historically, we've whipped people with wet noodles," Boots added. "Our enforcement's been pretty weak. People don't feel the pain, so therefore they don't fix the problem." While councilors tout the curfew as an important tool to keep children safe, critics say it will be ignored and even mocked by teens who are already willing to break the law by carrying guns. Kids as young as 13 and 14 were charged with gun possession over the Fourth of July weekend, and a total of eight teens and three adults face charges in connection with the downtown mayhem, according to the Marion County Prosecutor's Office. Fraternal Order of Police President Rick Snyder, who represents all IMPD officers, told councilors they need to demand harsher penalties from the prosecutor and the court system. "We're talking about criminally violent offenders armed with guns who ... are laughing at what we're doing here tonight," Snyder said. "They know nothing will happen to them in the juvenile justice system," Snyder added. "That's a huge red flag." The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department hasn't enforced the state curfew for years because the juvenile court system was unwilling to process violations, IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said. That changed last year after a different downtown Indianapolis mass shooting wounded seven teens, and IMPD officers announced plans to enforce the curfew. "Voluntary compliance is what we all want," Bailey said while speaking in support of the bill Wednesday night. "Keep your kids home so they stay alive, so they don't end up in our custody for some criminal charge, or they don't catch a stray round."
Indianapolis Star
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
Indianapolis City-County Council pushes to start youth curfew 2 hours earlier after shooting
After a violent holiday weekend that included a mass shooting downtown in which two teenagers died, the Indianapolis City-County Council is pushing to impose an earlier youth curfew at the urging of the police chief and the mayor. A new proposal introduced at a July 7 council meeting would begin the curfew for all minors in Marion County two hours earlier. The council will also consider measures to hold parents and guardians accountable for their children's actions, including fines and parenting classes for repeat violations. Proposal No. 232 would make it unlawful for minors to be unsupervised in a public place in Marion County during the following hours: The curfew currently begins two hours later in each category, according to state law that the city follows. Under state law, it's illegal for teenagers ages 15-17 to be out alone in public after 1 a.m. on Saturday or Sunday and after 11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday unless they are going to or returning from work, an extracurricular activity, or a religious event, among other exceptions. Children younger than 15 must be in their homes by 11 p.m. every day. The push to restrict the curfew follows a mass shooting involving juveniles gathered near Washington and Illinois Streets in the early hours of July 5, after thousands of people gathered downtown for the annual Fourth of July fireworks show. Two teenagers — Azareaon S. Cole, 15, and Xavion Jackson, 16 — were killed and five other people were injured. Police have charged four teens in connection with the shootings. While the current proposal would only extend the curfew, councilors said they aim to add civil penalties including fines and parenting classes for the parents and guardians of repeat offenders in a July 16 Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee meeting. The amended bill will return to the full council for a vote in a future meeting. Michael-Paul Hart, who leads the 25-member council's six Republicans, said that without penalties for parents, the resolution seems unlikely to improve safety among teens. "We've got a parental problem, sure," Hart said, "but just changing the hours isn't going to change the behavior." In the meantime, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department will redouble its efforts to enforce the existing curfew. Mayor Joe Hogsett said the city will back IMPD's efforts to boost enforcement and save lives. "The youth gun violence we experienced in our city this weekend was tragic, unacceptable — and completely preventable," Hogsett said in a written statement. "Our city's youth have no business being out unsupervised in the middle of the night."
