CLEVELAND — Proposed legislation in Cleveland to bolster the penalties for juvenile curfew law violators and their families is generating plenty of reaction among parents and community leaders.
The legislation, which was introduced by Ward 8 Cleveland Councilman Michael Polensek on Aug. 17, is now moving on to key city department leaders in Public Safety, Finance and Law for an evaluation.
The legislation proposes to increase the penalty for a first curfew law violation to a fourth-degree misdemeanor, with up to a $250 fine and up to 30 days in jail; a second or subsequent offense could carry up to a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail.
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Polensek told News 5 the parents of juvenile offenders need to be held more accountable and said better enforcement of the city curfew law is a key component in curbing rising juvenile violence and crime in Cleveland this summer. The proposed legislation will also issue parents and guardians of teen violators up to the equivalent of $250 of community service.
The current Cleveland curfew law states juveniles 12 years old and under must be home by dark; teens 13 and 14 years old inside by 9:30 p.m.; teens 15 and 16 years old inside by 11 p.m. and teens who are 17 years old must be home by midnight.
Black-on-Black Crime President Al Porter agrees parents need to take a more active disciplinary role, but is also hoping the new law will include a provision for family intervention and teen counseling and mentoring for repeat offenders.
"Parents and guardians who can, they should have been taking responsibility on their own before it came to this, that’s number one," Porter said. “What is also need is access to family help, and I’ll even say mentor ship help, you name it; without that, it’s just setting us up for more failure.”
Ward 9 Cleveland Councilman Kevin Conwell told News 5 he'll ask that family counseling and teen mentoring be added to the proposed legislation in the coming weeks.
“Programs like the African American Male Initiative, programs that will steer children in the right direction, a lot of kids don’t have fathers in the household," Conwell said. "Arresting people is not always the right answer, and some of the children go to school just to get a meal, so we have to look into some of the other issues.”
Delores Gray, who is a Cleveland grandmother who helps raise her 13 and 9-year-old grandsons, also agrees more parental accountability is needed, but she's hoping the new legislation will include family outreach.
"So you never know what’s going on in the household," Gray said. “There’s a lot of programs out there that are for families and youth and so I really feel that they should activate that. They should also work with the schools, mentor ship programs and behavioral services as well.”
Once the legislation goes to the Directors of Public Safety, Finance, and Law it will comes back to Council Committees in Safety, and Finance Diversity Equity and Inclusion before it goes to the full council this coming fall.
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