Chapter 9.05
MINORS – LOITERING AND CURFEW
Sections:
9.05.010 Definitions.
In this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
A. “Curfew hours” means the following:
1. For juveniles under 16 years of age, between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. of the following day.
2. For juveniles on or after their sixteenth birthday, but prior to their eighteenth birthday, between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 5:00 a.m. of the following morning.
B. “Custodian” means any person, not a juvenile, who is in loco parentis to a juvenile.
C. “Emergency” means an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action. The term also includes, but is not limited to, a fire, a natural disaster, or automobile accident, or any situation requiring immediate action to prevent serious bodily injury or loss of life.
D. “Establishment” is defined as any privately owned place of business operated for a profit to which the public is invited, including but not limited to any place of amusement or entertainment.
E. “Guardian” means a person who, under court order, is the guardian of the person of a minor; or a public or private agency with whom a minor has been placed by an authorized agency or court; or any person other than a parent, who has legal guardianship of the person of a juvenile; or a person at least 21 years of age and authorized by a parent or guardian to have the care and custody of a minor.
F. “Insufficient control” means failure to exercise reasonable care and diligence in the supervision of the juvenile.
G. “Juvenile” or “minor” means any person who has not yet reached 18 years of age.
H. “Operator” means any individual, firm, association, partnership, or corporation operating, managing, or conducting any establishment. The term includes the members or partners of an association or partnership and the officers of a corporation.
I. “Parent” means a natural parent, adoptive parent, or stepparent of another person.
J. “Public place” is any place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access, and includes streets, highways, and the common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transport facilities, and shops.
K. “Remain” means to linger or stay or fail to leave premises when requested to do so by a police officer or the owner, operator, or other person in control of the premises.
L. “Serious bodily injury” means bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ. [Ord. 1997-14; Ord. 1996-06; prior code § 13-1-1.]
9.05.020 Offenses.
A. A minor commits an offense if the minor remains in any public place or on the premises of any establishment within the town, away from the property where the minor resides, during curfew hours.
B. A parent, guardian or person having responsibility of a minor commits an offense if the parent, guardian or person having responsibility for the minor knowingly permits, or by insufficient control allows, the minor to remain in any public place or on the premises of any establishment within the town, away from the property where the minor resides, during curfew hours. It shall not constitute a defense hereto that such parent, guardian or other person having responsibility for the minor did not have actual knowledge that the minor was violating the provisions of this chapter if such parent, guardian or other person having responsibility for the minor, in the exercise of reasonable care and diligence, should have known of the violation.
C. A parent, guardian or other person having the care, custody or supervision of the minor commits an offense by refusing to take custody of the minor after such demand is made upon said parent, guardian or other person having the care, custody or supervision of the minor by a law officer who arrests the minor for violations of this chapter.
D. The owner, operator, or any employee of an establishment commits an offense if said owner, operator, or any employee of the establishment knowingly allows a minor to remain upon the premises of the establishment during curfew hours. [Ord. 1997-14; Ord. 1996-06; prior code § 13-1-2.]
9.05.030 Defenses/exceptions.
A. It is a defense to prosecution under STC 9.05.020 that:
1. The minor was accompanied by the minor’s parent or guardian;
2. The minor was on an errand at the direction of the minor’s parent or guardian without any detour or stop;
3. With prior permission of the parent or guardian, the minor was in a vehicle involved in interstate travel;
4. The minor was engaged in an employment activity, or going to or returning home from an employment activity, without any detour or stop by the most direct route;
5. The minor was involved in an emergency;
6. The minor was on the sidewalk abutting the minor’s residence or abutting the residence of a next-door neighbor if the neighbor did not complain to the police department about the minor’s presence;
7. With prior permission of the parent or guardian, the minor was engaged in a reasonable, legitimate, and specific business and/or activity. Examples include, but are not limited to, attending an official school, religious, or other recreational activity supervised by adults and sponsored by the town of Sahuarita, a civic organization, or another similar entity that takes responsibility for the minor, or going to or returning home from, without any detour or stop, an official school, religious, or other recreational activity supervised by adults and sponsored by the town of Sahuarita, a civic organization, or another similar entity that takes responsibility for the minor;
8. With permission of the parent or guardian, the minor was exercising First Amendment rights protected by the United States Constitution, such as free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, and the right of assembly; or
9. The minor is emancipated, whether emancipation be through marriage, military service, or other legally sufficient grounds in accordance with Arizona law.
B. It is a defense to prosecution under STC 9.05.020(D) that the owner, operator, or employee of an establishment promptly notified the police department that a minor was present on the premises of the establishment during curfew hours and refused to leave.
C. Enforcement. Before taking any enforcement action under this chapter, a police officer shall ask the apparent offender’s age and reason for being in the public place. The officer shall not issue a citation or make an arrest under this section unless the officer reasonably believes that an offense has occurred and that, based on any response and other circumstances, no defense in this section exists. [Ord. 1997-14; Ord. 1996-06; prior code § 13-1-3.]
9.05.040 Penalties.
A. Each violation of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a separate offense.
B. A person convicted of a violation of this chapter shall be guilty of a class one misdemeanor, punishable according to the laws of the state of Arizona. [Ord. 1997-14; Ord. 1996-06; prior code § 13-1-4.]