(a) No child twelve (12) years of age or under shall be upon the streets or sidewalks or in a park or any other public place during the period from darkness to dawn, nor shall any child between the ages of thirteen (13) and fourteen (14), inclusive, be upon the streets or sidewalks or in any park or other public place between 9:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. nor shall any child between the ages of fifteen (15) and sixteen (16), inclusive, be upon the streets or sidewalks or in any park or other public place between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., nor shall any child seventeen (17) years of age be upon the streets or sidewalks between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m., unless the child is accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, or a responsible adult selected by the parent or legal guardian to supervise the child.
(b) Each parent or legal guardian of a child seventeen (17) years of age or under shall have a duty to prohibit the child from behaving contrary to division (a) of this section. No person shall negligently fail to fulfill the duty imposed by this division.
(c) It shall be an affirmative defense to division (b) of this section that the parent or legal guardian:
(1) Initiated the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court against the child prior to the time that the child was found violating division (a) of this section;
(2) Can demonstrate based on the records of the employer, that it can be reasonably presumed that the child was en route to home from work in the evening or en route to work from home in the morning.
(d) Any child who violates division (a) of this section is an unruly child and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court.
(e) Any person who violates division (b) of this section is guilty of negligently failing to supervise a child, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree for a first offense, will be required to undergo a root cause analysis, and will be required to participate in family support programs as directed and guided by the Court, and may be required to perform supervised community service work pursuant to of RC 2951.02 in the ward in which the child was arrested or detained, the value of such service work not to exceed Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00). In addition to any other method of enforcement provided for in these Codified Ordinances or by statute, this offense may be enforced by the issuance of a citation in compliance with Rule 4.1 of the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure. Any person who is convicted of a second or subsequent offense for violating division (b) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree.
As used in this section:
“Family Support programs” means a broad array of supports and services, including formal supports (such as paid respite care) and informal supports (such as parent-to-parent connections) and a community system of services that promote the well being of families.
“Root Cause Analysis” means the process of discovering the root causes of juvenile delinquency that include: realizing the program; gathering data; determining possible causal factors, identifying root causes and recommending and implementing appropriate solutions.
(Ord. No. 860-2023. Passed 10-2-23, eff. 10-3-23)