New numbers are out. And Rochester Police say the city's youth curfew is working. In the year since the curfew went into effect, Rochester police say juvenile crime is down. In 2006, before the curfew began, an average of 33 young people were arrested per month during the hours past today's curfew, with a total of 405 arrests for the year. This year, 85 juveniles have been arrested, that's an average of about 13 per month so far. Despite the numbers, some still oppose the curfew. Gary Pudup of the NYCLU says, "The law basically stigmatizes a person's status because they're a certain age, they're in violation of a law." Commissioner Charles Reaves of the Department of Recreation and Youth Services disagrees: "We've had this in front of the judge and the judge said what we are doing is fine and he supports us in continuing our curfew program." Rochester Police continue to patrol the streets, looking for teens 16 years-old and younger who are out past curfew. Curfew is 11:00 p.m. on weekdays, and midnight on weekends.
