New Orleans City Council voted unanimously Thursday to expand its curfew and truancy laws to include 17-year-olds.
The vote was taken up as part of the council’s consent agenda, held for “routine or non-controversial matters.” But the expansion, introduced by Councilmembers Jay Banks and Cyndi Nguyen, has sparked controversy.
Council members listened to several statements opposing the expansion. Commenters cited data from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which reported that during the summer of 2019, when a youth curfew was reinstated, nearly 85 percent of all children stopped for curfew violations were Black.
A coalition called the Youth Justice Advocates, made up of several organizations including Step Up NOLA and the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, released a statement following the vote.