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Lights Out: Philly City Council Backs Permanent Curfew for Teens

Everyone under the age of 18 would have be home by 10 p.m. Forever.

In a desperate bid to protect its young constituents from spiraling gun violence, Philadelphia City Council on Thursday voted to approve a permanent 10 p.m. curfew for anyone under the age of 18 in the city. If greenlit by Mayor Jim Kenney, the bill would introduce rules requiring anyone aged between 14 and 17 to be home before 10 p.m., and kids aged 13 and under to be home by 9:30 p.m. The curfew would then end at 6 a.m. Philly has had a youth curfew of some form in place since 1955, including a 10 p.m. curfew enforced over the summer that expired in September. Police statistics show that despite the recent 10 p.m. rule, more children were shot in Philadelphia this summer than any other previous summer. Experts say youth curfews have little to no effect on juvenile victimization or crime rates—since 2015, 72 percent of juvenile shooting victims in Philadelphia were hurt in the hours before a 10 p.m. curfew would come into effect.