Would curfew disproportionately hit minorities?

IOWA CITY - The City Council last night spent about two hours talking about a proposed juvenile curfew.

A majority of the council expressed support for one, and a first vote is to be held Tuesday.

An interesting part of the discussion that deserves more attention is whether minority children, particularly black children, would be more likely to be targeted by a curfew.

It's an issue that council members Amy Correia and Ross Wilburn - the only two who oppose a curfew - were especially concerned about.

Will police enforce the curfew citywide and not just in one neighborhood? Wilburn asked. The neighborhood he was referring to clearly was the southeast side, which has a large black population and was the site of a few violent incidences in recent  months that spurred the call for a curfew.

Police Chief Sam Hargadine said he suspected that there would be a disparity. But he said that's because the vast majority of times officers are dealing with juveniles, it's because they're responding to a call.

"It's not because the police are prejudice," he said. "It's because we've been called there."

Because of all the attention the southeast side has been getting, if a curfew is approved, Hargadine expects that area of town to account for a large number of calls on possible violations.

Correia, who is Johnson County's social services director, said minorities are already disproportionatly represented in the criminal justice system and worried that a curfew would bring the same results.

Council members agreed that a curfew needs to be enforced citywide.

"This has to be a blanket, blanket curfew," Mike O'Donnell said.

As a quick side note, Iowa City of course has a large number of college students.

The Daily Iowan has reported that 161 minors were enrolled at the University of Iowa last fall. They would be subject to the curfew.

Connie Champion said police have discretion and should use common sense in enforcing a curfew, something Hargadine agreed with. If a student is returning to the dorms from the library at 1 a.m., they shouldn't get in trouble, she said.

Wilburn, who said he was 17 for a few weeks at the start of his freshman year, said the council then needs to give clear instructions to police.