Should parents be cited when their kid violates Canton’s juvenile curfew? Council to vote.

CANTON − Should parents be cited when their children continuously violate Canton’s juvenile curfew for designated outdoor drinking areas?

It’s a question being debated among Canton City Council members as they consider another change to the city laws that specify when children under the age of 18 can no longer be in a public place without an adult.

Council members first changed the juvenile curfew law in May 2022, setting an earlier nightly curfew of 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. unless the child is accompanied by an adult or meets other limited circumstances.

Council then established an even earlier curfew in May 2023 for Canton’s two designated outdoor refreshment areas, which are located in downtown Canton and at the Hall of Fame Village. The newer law states youths must leave the DORA districts between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. except in specific situations.

See all the DORAs in Ohio: Every Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area in Ohio

Now, council is considering whether police should have the ability to cite the parents of children who violate the DORA juvenile curfew law.

Police already have the ability to cite parents under the citywide juvenile curfew. Parents could be charged with a minor misdemeanor for a first offense and a fourth-degree misdemeanor for subsequent violations, while juveniles could be charged with unruliness in Stark County Family Court.

Council is expected to vote on legislation allowing officers to cite the parents of DORA juvenile curfew violators at its next council meeting on Aug. 7.

Canton law director: ‘We’re not out there to punish the parent.’

Law Director Jason Reese said the language to enable police to cite parents was inadvertently left out of the DORA juvenile curfew legislation that was passed by nine of the 12 council members two months ago.

He said having the ability to cite the parents of youths who violate the DORA juvenile curfew is designed to be a tool for police, not as a penalty for responsible parents whose child made a bad decision. He said police retain discretion as to when to cite parents.

“We’re not out there to punish the parent,” he said. “This is just a tool that we would have if we have a situation where a parent continued to allow their child to go down there (into the designated outdoor drinking district) or didn’t know where their child was again and again, again and again.”

He said most often police will take the youths home and advise the parents of the curfew laws first. After repeated violations, he said police then would likely cite the juvenile, and juvenile court officials can ensure the child and the family receive the resources they need, such as food vouchers or bus passes.

Council members express concern with parent curfew citation

At least three council members have voiced concerns about the change. Those concerns have so far stalled the legislation from being voted on by the full council.

Councilwoman Chris Smith, D-Ward 4, believes it’s unfair to cite a parent because parents don’t always have control over what their kids are doing, especially if the parent must work in the evenings.

“So now you have a parent that has a case pending against them …,” said Smith, who voted in support of the DORA juvenile curfew in May. “This could affect that parent’s job and so forth.”

Smith, who said she attends all of the downtown events, said it seems that children fitting a certain profile typically are the ones being questioned by police.

“It’s always the African American kids that it always seems to be something happening with,” she said.

Councilman Kevin Hall, D-Ward 6, who abstained from the May vote on the DORA juvenile curfew, believes that instead of charging parents, the city should provide additional resources for them. He also questioned the starting times for the juvenile curfew, citing two recent instances where youths were becoming disorderly before 9 p.m.

Councilman Frank Morris, D-Ward 9, who abstained from the DORA juvenile curfew vote in May, believes council shouldn’t pass laws that police don’t intend to enforce, noting how officers continue to take youths home instead of citing them for curfew. He also said constituents have raised concerns that police will use the curfew laws to harass Black youths.

How many curfew violations have been issued so far?

Canton Police Chief John Gabbard provided the Canton Repository with a summary of the department’s curfew enforcement since the citywide juvenile curfew law took effect last year.

The summary shows that city police warned 33 youths about a curfew violation between May and December 2022 and cited nine juveniles for violating curfew. Through July 18 of this year, police have warned 35 youths and cited eight juveniles. Only one of the juveniles taken home and given a warning had violated the DORA curfew.

Gabbard said no juveniles or adults have needed to be warned about a curfew violation more than once.

The chief said the overall statistics likely are higher because officers contacting youths in other arrestable situations sometimes do not document the curfew violation, and officers do not always create a report when they take a juvenile home and issue a warning regarding curfew.

When asked about the demographics of the youths who have been contacted or cited for curfew, Gabbard said the department is trying to improve its process for tracking such information.

Reach Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton council debates citing parents for DORA juvenile curfew