PERSPECTIVE: Curfews won’t keep us safe; they just criminalize the existence of Black and brown youth

Some Chicago alderpeople are pushing a “snap curfew,” a racist, police-first policy disguised as public safety. The “snap curfew” ordinance that would give the Chicago Police Department (CPD) sweeping authority to impose a youth curfew whenever CPD claims young people might gather in ways that threaten “public health, safety, or welfare.”

It’s being sold as a way to “protect” youth. But let’s be clear: this isn’t about safety. It’s about giving CPD the unchecked power to disappear young people from public space with no meaningful accountability. The ordinance is intentionally vague and dangerous. It allows the police superintendent — or any district commander — to declare a snap curfew with just 30 minutes’ notice. 

As a result, young people and their families might have no idea a curfew is in place — until it’s too late. A teen heading home from work, grabbing food with friends, or walking to a bus stop could suddenly be subject to police stops, citations, or worse. This isn’t safety; it’s a trap designed to funnel youth into the system.

And let’s be honest about who this targets. Teens with the resources to attend ticketed events like Lollapalooza are exempt. But Black and brown youth gathering downtown or along the lakefront? They’ll be policed, profiled, and punished. This ordinance draws a bright line between who gets to enjoy public space and who gets criminalized for occupying it.

From a legal standpoint, this ordinance is profoundly flawed. It encourages suspicionless stops, arbitrary detentions, and aggressive policing of Chicago’s youth — clear violations of their First and Fourth Amendment rights. The ordinance fails to give young people and their families clear, advance notice of where and when CPD will enforce the curfew — violating basic due process protections guaranteed by the Constitution. It deepens the reach of a law enforcement system already under a federal consent decree for racist and unconstitutional practices, targeting the very communities that have long borne the brunt of state violence.  If the City Council enacts this ordinance, legal challenges are inevitable — and Chicago’s taxpayers will shoulder the financial burden of defending a policy that is not only unconstitutional, but morally indefensible.

The “snap curfew” threatens to undermine the real progress Chicago has made by investing in community-based safety strategies like youth peacekeeping, approaches rooted in care, not criminalization. GoodKids MadCity collaborates with City officials to run a summer youth peacekeeping program. We train young people to de-escalate conflict and build healthier communities. Sometimes our peacekeepers work after curfew helping other young people make positive choices. Under a “snap curfew,” CPD could target youth peacekeepers because we’re protecting our neighborhoods and trying to set the right example. The city is criminalizing the very leadership it claims to nurture.

The message couldn’t be clearer: Black and brown youth are not just unsafe, they are unwelcome, even when they’re doing the work the city says it values. The “snap curfew” doesn’t just punish; it discourages. It tells young people that no matter how much they give to their communities, Chicago views them as a threat that must be contained and disposed of.

GoodKids MadCity has already shown the way forward. We’ve written and fought for the Peace Book ordinance — a plan that would redirect resources from policing into youth jobs, mental health care, safe spaces, and community-based violence interruption. That’s what safety looks like.

But instead of passing the Peace Book, the city is handing even more unchecked power to a department known for racialized brutality. The same CPD that killed teenagers Laquan McDonald, Adam Toledo, and Pierre Loury. The same CPD that has surveilled, harassed, and disappeared Black youth for generations.

The fight against the “snap curfew” is a fight against homegrown fascism. The same machinery that rips immigrant families apart under President Donald Trump now targets Black and brown youth in Chicago, using fear, lies, and state violence to maintain control. “Snap curfew” supporters peddle racist propaganda that dehumanizes young people of color and greenlights their surveillance, arrest, and incarceration. They know exactly what they’re doing: using the criminal legal system to destroy futures.

We don’t need another curfew. We need a city that doesn’t just mourn young people’s deaths but invests in their lives. City Council must reject the “snap curfew.” Because Chicago’s young people are not the problem. They are the solution.